Since the beginning until now, I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly what attracts me to her. Maybe it was the way she looks, with that tan slender perfect body of hers she seemed to be showing off when we did swimming in PE. Or maybe it is her big brown eyes that seem to hypnotize me every time I gaze into them. Could it be her curly golden brown hair that dances in the wind like leaves in autumn? Maybe the way she speaks, with her cute voice that for so long would put butterflies in my tummy. Quite possibly it’s the texture of her skin; soft like a baby, yet firm, although it took me what seemed like forever to even work up the courage to hold her hand. The physical characteristics I thought were the main points of attraction turned out to be meaningless. Yes they are added bonuses, but in the end what started my obsession with this person is her good spirit and positive personality no matter what the situation.

It was a sunny summer day in the east bay area, and I was just getting off work when she called me and suggested we have a picnic on the beach and watch the sunset over the ocean. It was late in July and I had been up at 5:30 that morning to get to work. My day at work wasn’t my favorite, and I wasn’t in the best mood once I finally got off around two. I went to her house to pick her up and nearly melted when I saw how excited she was to be going to the beach to have a picnic to me. She ran around to gather up the last of her beach picnic supplies towels, sand toys, umbrella, sunscreen, etc. She was so lost in her excitement about getting ready and going on the beach picnic she forgot her swimsuit, keys, wallet, and phone. She probably wouldn’t have realized it unless I asked her when we were halfway there.

When we were waiting in line to get our sandwiches for the picnic, she grabbed onto me with a big bear hug and wouldn’t let go no matter how hard I tried to get her off me. Even though I showed no sign of pleasure, she knew that I liked the attention. Finally we got to order our sandwiches, and she was eager to order, knowing exactly what I wanted. After gathering our picnic and beach supplies we embarked on the hour-long drive to our favorite beach on the coast of the San Francisco Peninsula, right off of highway 1.

The weather was warm when we left, but progressively got colder as we drove closer to the beach. The one-hour drive slowly turned into a two-hour drive because of the stop and go traffic before the toll plaza for the Bay Bridge. I was upset because my poor old car was slowly overheating, and I had to keep the heat on full blast to prevent engine damage, and I had to constantly throw in and out the heavy clutch only to move a few feet at a time. Her exuberance was completely unaffected by this stressful situation as if she were completely oblivious to what was going on outside of the car, other than the fact that she was on a way to have a picnic on the beach and watch the sunset over the ocean with her favorite person in the world. Although my left leg was sore, I was hot, tired and filled with road rage, she didn’t stop singing and bouncing around in her seat, poking me and holding my hand and kissing me with enthusiasm about her nearing adventure.

By the time we got there it was cold, cloudy and so foggy that you couldn’t even 100 feet out on the water from the sand. The sun was nowhere to be found. This did not even remotely phase her level of energy. When I turned the car off she jumped out, gathered all her things, grabbed my hand and raced to the sand. She set up her umbrella and towels and started munching on her sandwich before I could sit down. She finished eating and started playing in the sand, rolling in it and making “sand-angles” which she insisted looked like angles although didn’t even look like anything at all.

When I finished my food, she insisted that I try to bury her with sand until she wasn’t able to get up. I reluctantly agreed, and started slowly piling sand over her until she said she thought she was suffocating. Finally I told her to get up and she couldn’t, so I joked around that I was going to leave and started picking up all of the stuff and walking to the car. She started screaming and laughing at the same time as if she were a little kid being tickle-tortured. Finally I turned around and helped her out of her sand trap. When she brushed the last sand off, she started pouting and refused to stop pouting unless she could bury me with sand. She made a very motivated attempt, but after a few short minutes she figured I was stuck there permanently, and told me to try to get up. I laid there, and pretended to struggle for a few minutes then jumped out of the sand and she screamed in shock I was able to get out so easily. I pointed out that the weather was bad, and we couldn’t go in the water because it was too cold, and we were going to miss the sunset because of the fog, and suggested that we should go back. I sure am Mr. Positive Outlook. She agreed and when we got back to the car all she could talk about is how much fun she had.

On the way back there was more stressful traffic, and again, I had to keep the heater on to make sure my car didn’t explode. I realized it felt awfully quiet, and I looked to my right to see her all bundled up in her towel, sleeping like a baby after a long day of playing at the beach. Just seeing her curled up in my passenger’s seat, happily sleeping, made me realize how great of a time I had with her after all.

No matter what the situation is, and no matter what kind of mood I am in, she never fails to end up leaving me with a smile on my face. Her positive attitude, happiness, fun-loving, carefree, cute as hell personality always to seems to rub off on me and I always find myself acting like her and saying things in the cute ways she says them. Her personality inspires me want to be with her all the time, and she makes me feel like the luckiest guy on earth.