*The Red Baron will understand this title, if he’s wearing his mood ring.

This is about the fifteenth time I’ve started to write this post. I’m trying to find the right words to share how I’m feeling about The Red Baron without freaking anyone out. Luckily, I’ve found that he doesn’t scare easily, so I’ll just be honest.

I’m in love.

Don’t worry. This isn’t the first he’s heard of this…I’m a total wuss and kind of an emotional moron, but I’m together enough to express the really big stuff in living color prior to going electronic.

And, without downgrading any previous relationships and their importance in my life…I finally get it. THIS is what it’s supposed to feel like. This is how it’s supposed to be. It’s easy with Red (look — his nickname has a nickname; that’s how lazy I am). It’s fun. It’s happy. It’s not drama filled and, as it turns out, that doesn’t make it any less deep.

I think for a very long time, I bought into the Hollywood bullshit idea that a really intense relationship comes with a lot of pain and agony; you know, so the happy times seem that much happier (right?). But then, here’s this guy who is beautiful and intelligent and sexy and happy and charming and funny and on and on and on…and he doesn’t make me feel miserable at all. And it’s WONDERFUL.

We’ve gone to concerts, plays, and baseball games. We’ve been camping, sailing, and biking. We’ve met family and friends. We’ve spent nearly every day together since we met and I just want more and more of him.

So, to summarize: My poor blog will likely continue suffering because for the first time in my relationship history, I’m not!

My spam comments are nothing but links to “medicine” for erectile dysfunction.

It might be time to change the name of the blog.

Most people I know have a “show and tell” memory from their youth. They brought in shiny rocks, or baseball cards, or a weird pet that freaked the teacher out so she cowered in the corner until the presentation was complete.

I have no such memory. Is it possible that not one of my teachers cared so little as to take the easy road and have show and tell day? Or did I just lack the creativity to produce a treasure to share with my classmates? Either way, I just don’t remember ever participating in show and tell, even as a spectator.

Until last weekend. The Red Baron and I had a traveling show and tell.

On Saturday, I was shown to some of his oldest friends. He told them how we met. And we ate potato salad. LOTS of potato salad. On Sunday, I showed him to my parents. I told them about our plans to go camping in a couple of weeks. And we ate shortcake. LOTS of shortcake. Later that day, he showed me to his mom. She told me about horses. And we, thankfully, ate nothing. Although we were sent home with cheesy potatoes.

This weekend I will show him too much of my extended family. I will tell them about how he is the first man I’ve ever connected with so easily. I’ll tell them that there has been very little effort involved. I’ll tell them how it’s just fun and happy and nice. How there are no red flags. How there is no drama. And how we’re so comfortable with where we stand already that we’re planning a trip to Mexico in October.

This is the show and tell I’ll have memories of…

I may be jumping the gun, but somehow it doesn’t feel like it. After only two dates, I’m adding a new category to my neglected little blog…”the red baron.” Thanks to yorkie pud’ for the nickname; it seems to fit.

Yes, he is an online dating connection. And after many attempts, it appears that he’ll be the first one to make it past three dates. We’re having the third on Thursday and we have tentative plans for the weekend.

I’m going to keep it short for now. Just enough so that when the time comes and he’s given the secret code to unlock the blog (also known as the url), he’ll know that I was thinking about him and I had good feelings about our prospects from very early on in the relationship. I’m also not going to scour the blog looking for things to delete that might make me seem a little crazy. He’s going to have to embrace the crazy, along with my messy past. It’s part of the package that I’m not going to hide from anyone.

So, red baron, when you have found this little post, thank you for a fun day at the zoo, and yummy mexican food, and a sweet first kiss. And although I told you yesterday that misery is great inspiration for writing, happiness can be quite compelling as well.

I may have to rethink having children. I’m no longer sure that I’m up to the emotional task.

I dropped Siri at day camp this morning. And as PATHETIC as this may seem, it was quite difficult. I seriously almost cried. After the guy at the front desk took her to the back, I couldn’t pry myself away from the monitors in the reception area. I could see her standing in the middle of this big room, frozen. That’s when the tears welled up and I tried to shake my hair into my face so no one could see my melt-down.

Luckily the guy had brought her to an area that only had one other dog in it at the time and they were separated from the dogs in the next room by a fence. After a minute or two, Siri’s legs started working and her doggy curiosity kicked in. When I left, she was wandering and mingling with the dogs along the fence.

The greatest thing about Camp Bow Wow is that they have 13 web cams. The worst thing about my job is that my firewall won’t let me view any of them. But the girl who sits next to me has more access and she let me check in on Siri a couple of hours ago. I found her almost immediately because she was the one standing as close to the human as possible. As the human moved, so did Siri. I was just happy to see that she wasn’t standing in the corner by herself.

This is not going to be a daily norm for Siri. It’s just the dry run for a four day trip to Chicago in May (they offer overnight stays). Usually I leave Siri with my folks (we’re going to Chicago together) or take her with me but it’s not really going to work out for this trip.

But the more I think about it, the more I love the idea of this kind of doggy socialization for Siri and I may try to make day camp a monthly event. If my heart can take it…