We have such different ideas about everything, people wonder how we got together, but I never do. I never really think, ‘goodness we are different; what was it that brought us together?’ I guess I don’t spend time analyzing it because I went through about three and a half million men to get to Daniel.  I dated in the Katamon hive for over 10 years and met more guys than most people have had hot dinners, or in Daniel’s case since married frozen microwaveable hamburgers.

Take that for the small scale of our differences.  We make ourselves ‘dinner’ in the evening. Typically, his will be the burger from the freezer and mine will cover an array of food types, including some boiled vegetable, dried fruit or cereal, cottage cheese and crackers and then a selection of sugared goods.  He eats one hearty thing; I eat a bunch of little non-animal based products.

Then you can move on to the next level of differences.  Exercise. I love walking everywhere; I swim as much as I can; I am perhaps the only individual in the world who bought an exercise machine that has never become a towel rack as it is used thrice weekly.  Daniel will drive to the makolet.

And then there are our sleep patterns.  I will arise early in the morning and go to bed before midnight, whereas Daniel will go to bed in the early hours and get up mid-morning.  But that works well in our little family.  I get to do the first dog run, walking for half an hour with Gal and Daniel takes him later, to the park to see his friends. This is a time Daniel can just take his first leisurely break of the day of sitting down and watching him.

Then there are the wider-scope matters.  I love to learn Torah and psychological stuff; and think about how people behave and what it means. Daniel shows me fast moving, fire-based clips on the computer screen which enter my brain so minimally that within 30 seconds I cannot recall them. We have yet to find a movie we both thoroughly enjoy.

When it comes to money, I save everything and Daniel spends it.  We have two accounts for that purpose.  And when it comes to life in general, I take no risks and Daniel takes them all.

So perhaps you are asking, ‘then why?’ and while I do not know, I would attempt at a guess: these reasons are precisely why.  We are two halves of a whole and we do not try to mold each other to be like the other because if we did that, we would no longer fit the way we so smugly do today.

Here’s to the next great educational 9 months.

Emma