The third shindig is for her birthday. I go all out. She is, after all, a keeper. I buy her a flowerpot and a lily bulb (Symbolism! Symbolism here!). I pick her up for dinner. But the ace in the hole, I take her waltzing outside with a boombox and procured waltz music from my sister's collection of CD's. We're doing the box step, which is about all we can handle, what with the meaningful glances and all being thrown around. We try some spins. More glances.

Then she tells me, "You know, you can kiss me." So I do. And we don't stop until I see a light flicker off in my peripheral vision which means that my brother and his girlfriend were spying on us which is a weird reversal of roles considering all the spying I did on him and his girlfriends over the years as a youngun.

Then I make her some really nice hot chocolate. We play cards with the family after that. Hearts. No mercy given or asked for but she holds her own. It's time for her to go. In the car, she tells me that she loves my grin. I make a mental note to grin lots in the future. I'm really head over heels at this moment.

After I return from returning her home, my dad remarks that he was wrong to have dissuaded me from dating a Flockhart and that he really likes her. The rest of the family agrees. It's too bad, really, I was hoping for a nice Romeo and Juliet sort of forbidden love thing. But no matter, since family approval means quite a lot to me.

That's what I wanted. I wanted a girlfriend who would become part of my life. I wanted someone who would just drop by because she knew she could. I wanted someone who'd fit in so perfectly that even though breaking up with her might hurt terribly to find a large part of your life gone, the "together" was so good that you didn't mind.

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