Yin Yang

It's Monday, so time to link up with Stasha over at The Good Life and her famous listicle. This weeks topic, a stretch for me, "Yin Yang". Let the wheels start turning, and turning, and turning.... and I got it!
They say opposites attract, and that can be said for Bry & I.
So today, I dedicate this list to us.
Bry's truly the yin to my yang, the peanut butter to my jelly, the salt to my pepper.

1. Patience and the Opposite
Patience has always been a virtue I have been blessed with, while Bry...well...not his strong suit. I hesitate to use the word "impatient" as that is often characterized with making rash decisions that can be problematic. That is defintely NOT Bry. Instead, I'll say that he is good at getting things done in quick and timely manner, hence the opposite of patient.

2. Worry and Calm
I am the worrier. I will lose sleep as countless scenarios bombard my mind, causing me to toss and turn. As emotions over take me, my stomach will churn and I will be a mess. Not him. Someway, somehow, he is able to remain calm in virtually all situations. Sleep will be sound, and usually morning will bring him some ephipany or resolution, leaving my worry for naught.

3. Sweet and Salty
Give me ice cream, chocolate, cakes. My sweet tooth can be my Achilles heel while he can easily pass over dessert. (I know, crazy, right?) Instead, pretzels, peanuts, popcorn, potato chips, french fries- the saltier the better.

4. Early Bird and Night Owl
I never really categorized myself as one or the other until I started dating Bry. I have no real problem waking early, for work or now for children. He is the opposite, up late, and sleep later. While I hassle him that he fakes not hearing the girls in the morning, I honestly realize it's more then that: He's still in REM sleep! Someday, I'll get to sleep a little more.

5. Loud and Soft
I come from a long line of loud people. Our voices boom and project in a room. It was quite appropriate for my time as a teacher. None of my students could ever use the excuse that they couldn't hear what I was saying. Bry, however, finds my volume to be too loud, since he is more reserved. His voice rarely is louder then those he converses.

6. Good Cop and Bad Cop
Like many couples, these roles can be interchanged depending on the scenario, the kid, and the mood of either or both of us.

7. Frugal and Big Spender
I have a difficult time spending money, especially on myself. I rarely purchase items (except food) at full price, and have been known to stalk websites and stores, waiting for prices to be slashed. I get a high from a great sale. (For example, the winter coat I just scored for Mo from Lands End for $13!!) Bry is of the mentality that if you like something, you buy it. Period. He attributes this to a time where he put off buying a baseball card he longed for, only to discover it had been sold when he had gone back to purchase it. If he likes it, he buys it, he does however make sure he has the funds to do so.

8. Optimist and Pessimist
My glass is eternally half-full. I believe there is good in most people, and that things will usually work out. Karma means something to me, and in my heart, I think that what I put out into the universe will come back to me.
Meanwhile, that glass...
Well Bry's in on the floor,
Shattered into a million little pieces,
with water everywhere.
Enough said.

9. Lost and Spatially Gifted
I have a confession: I have a great deal of difficulty reading a map.
There, I said it. I suck at directions. While I slowly am getting better, I still get lost a decent bit.
Unlike Bry, who may have a photographic memory in terms of directionality. He will look a map, and within minutes have a variety of routes planned. I am both grateful for this gift as it has come in handy many times, and equally jealous.

10. Pool and Ocean
It's water, one swims in it, but we both have different opinions of which is better. Having basically spent the entirety of my adolescence in a swimming pool as a competitive swimmer, a pool is where I feel the most comfortable. Swimming laps, as I follow the black line or jumping of the diving board. The smell of chlorine permeating every pore. It's what I know. Bry grew up at the beach. Every.Single.Day. of summer from the time he was a baby until he starting his first job, the sand was beneath his toes. The rhythm of the waves his song, while the smell of salt water, his perfume. (Again, I'm jealous!)