Couplehood

I find Paul Reiser HILARIOUS!  I loved watching "Mad About You" (sitcom from the 90s), and I've bought three of his books - Couplehood, Babyhood, and Familyhood.  I recently re-read Couplehood and laughed for about 20 minutes straight.  And I finished the book in about a half an hour.  It's an extremely fast read, but highly amusing!  As you can probably tell from the title, "Couplehood" is about the foibles of getting into relationships and then maintaining one.  The first chapter is about what I call "fitting."  Gist: if you don't "fit" the person you're with it's not going to work.  How you define "fit" is up to you, but it's physical and emotional.  I totally agree with this and there's lots of tests you do to figure out if you and the person you're with "fit."  Here's an excerpt from the book, just cuz I'm not as funny as Paul is.  :)

When I was twelve, I remember holding hands with this girl - I want to say, "Patty," but I'm guessing here - and something about the way she held hands was just...wrong.  Our fingers didn't line up right.

You know how when you grab someone's hand, the fingers sort of automatically slide into place, your thumb next to their thumb, second finger next to their second finger?  Simple, right?  Not a lot of ways to screw that up.  This girl did.

I think what she did was slide her fingers in too early so they were all out of sync with mine.  (I'm sitting here, holding hands with myself to try to explain this to you.)  Okay...here's what it is: I like my pinkie to be on the outside.  And she started one finger too soon, so her pinkie was on the outside, and my pinkie was smushed up between her third and fourth fingers. 

Now, I'm not saying she's a bad person.  But the second we held hands, I knew she wasn't for me.  We just didn't fit.

And I knew I couldn't explain it to her, either.

But I remember thinking that if you're going to be with someone, you should find someone who fits.

Not to get all sappy, but I found someone who fits!  I fit right under Chris' chin.  And our hands fit too.  (My pinkie on the inside and my arm behind his.)  It just works.  :)