Marriage Class
"The key to any relationship is compatibility. So I had you each write a list of all the things you two like and dislike in the categories of 'food', 'music', 'sports', 'television', 'movies', 'books', and 'hobbies'. Janine, Greg, would you like to go first?"
Lisa was staring at the wall, he chin resting on her palm. This was the second 'Marriage in the Church' class she and Brian had gone to together, and she was already bored. The young couples were the worst, eighteen and seventeen year-olds, some still in high school, some already expecting a baby, all of them lovey-dovey, pawing each other all over. She listened as the young woman read off of the items on her list, and her boyfriend continually inserted the things that he liked. Typical…'I like swimming and walking'…'but I like football and basketball!'…'I like movies based on Nicholas Spark books, my favorite author, by the way'…'I like anything with Ranier Wolfcastle, and Owen Wilson…and I haven't read any books…that I liked'…sickening.
"Brian, Lisa?"
Lisa looked up. Brian held up the paper, and she looked at him, telling him to read.
"Okay. Lisa and I enjoy many styles of cuisine, though our shared vegetarianism limits our dining options slightly. Music: Lisa likes jazz, blues, and soul; while I like those styles as well, I am more partial to rock and pop from the sixties to the eighties. We share an interest in ethnic music, her favorite being African tribal and mine Celtic. We don't watch much television, but when we watch she likes PBS and I EWTN. We both like old movies, foreign films, and independent films. My favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, G.K. Chesterton, J.K. Rowling, P.G. Wodehouse…and Hillaire Belloc. Hers are Alexander Solzhenitzen, T.S. Elliot, Sylvia Plath, Emily Bronte, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. As for hobbies, we enjoy reading, writing, watching movies, discussing political/religious/philosophical/ issues, composing, playing music, and doing nothing.
"What is doing nothing, exactly?" the teacher asked.
"When someone asks 'What are you two doing?' and you reply 'Nothing'…and we do it."
"I see."
"A.A. Milne. One of our favorites."
"Right."
Lisa smiled at Brian.
"I think I freaked her out enough."
"You are so strange," she beamed.
"Thank you."