Hungry Like The Wolf

"I'm on a hunt down after you... Smell like I sound, lost in a crowd, and I'm hungry like the wolf..."

Really, I'm trying to stop. But I have no control. Damn you, Duran Duran. Fine. To my ipod you go. We will listen to you Saturday until my husband throws me or my ipod out of the car.

The weekend is fast approaching. We're waiting for really old, large, heavy, and cumbersome furniture to be delivered. It's a coin flip whether it'll be picked up and then also whether it'll show. Unwilling to pay a licensed, insured moving company to haul my grandmother's beloved organ and a strange mishmash of my other grandparents furniture, my mother found "some people on the internet". Sure, the only worth any of it has is in sentiment and sentiment alone, but the fact that my mother, who doesn't even have her own email address, went online and set this all up, well, it's sort of mind blowing. Give her credit where credit is due. Even attempting to get any of it the +500 miles from point A to point B... Deserves respect. Last night I finally got the actual dimensions of everything. Which is good, since none of it will fit anywhere I had planned. It's supposed to be here tonight... Or tomorrow morning...

As much as I wanted to keep our weekend open for the inevitable delayed furniture, I knew this weekend was our last chance to get in a normal date weekend before Ramadan. After this weekend, we are going to have a month of dates that are very relaxed and flexible out of necessity. You try fasting for a month. You will not have the energy or desire to do a ton of things. Because you're hungry. And exhausted. Probably not terribly fun to be around. It sounds trying but really it's a good thing. Just plan accordingly.

I had no idea what Ramadan was until I met my husband. And, I have participated every year that I have known him (except for one year when I was sick). It's different for someone raised very Jesus-y. I don't really know why I sort of immediately jumped in with both feet. Head over heels in love certainly had something to do with it. Even when we lived 400 miles away from each other, I still did it. Part of it was my way of saying thank you to my husband for putting him through the Psycho-Happy-Wife-Christmastime that happens every December (who am I kidding? We're lucky if I wait until after Halloween to get started). I loves me some Christmas. And I do it up, I tell you. It is something to behold. So me joining him in his big yearly tradition felt right to me. From the first year, I found in Ramadan a lot of things I hadn't experienced before. It makes you thankful and thoughtful in a whole new way. Now, I don't do it just for my husband. I do it for me. And for my own connection with things bigger than me.

Although on paper my husband and I do not share the same religion, we've talked about our beliefs and we do not believe in different things. We just express it differently. We've never tried to force the other to change. I think that is because at the heart of things, we know we're the same. It's natural to be curious and skeptical, and we certainly were met with a lot of "concerned" family members when we got together. I'm not one to push my religion on anyone, but the weirdest part for me was that I truly believed that God had sent me my husband. Still do. To then be told that it's because of God that we shouldn't be together... It was just ridiculous. What we have was given to us by God. I think some people still don't see that. All that matters is that we do.

And, I'll quit talking about this in a second, but you know what our children would be? Other than loved? They would be tolerant. And they'd have Ramadan and Christmas and it would be awesome.

Back to the dating. This weekend, my husband and I are going to The Wild Canid Center. High fives to those like me who had to look up Canid. It means wolves. Turns out there is an endangered wolf sanctuary in our area. There are wolf puppies! We're going on a 2 hour tour "pack"ed full of wolves. Heh. Play on words there. Since this is an outdoor date and it involves a walking tour, we wanted to do this before we were fasting. It is also supposed to be slightly cooler temperature-wise, so it seems like it was meant to be.

I want to love it and hold it and bring it home and raise it...

Okay, so maybe the kitties wouldn't love me raising a wolf puppy. I respectfully tone down my tendency to reach out and grab all animals. I will just enjoy them through the center. And try to refrain from petting anything that thinks I'm tasty.

"Hungry like the wolf..."

No, the husband doesn't know yet that this song is stuck in my head and that it's being downloaded into my iTunes right now. Why do you ask? How could he possibly not be thrilled about that?

(Singing) "I'M ON THE HUNT DOWN AFTER YOU... SCENT  AND A SOUND, LOST AND I'M FOUND, AND I'M HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF..." No, that's not annoying at all. Nope.

(Singing in a whisper) "Hungry like the wooooolf."