my boyfriend is great...and this is why...

Early on in our relationship my boyfriend showed me that he loved me. I never doubted that his feelings from the beginning were strong...and he continues to prove it to me in all that he says and does. However, sometimes when it comes to saying the right thing...his is somewhat of a dichotomy.

You see he learned how to master the art of picking up girls in any situation, early on in college; and seems to have honed the skill. He's good at dropping one liners as though they are just typical conversation. For instance, this morning I suggested we buy plane tickets for his birthday coming up in a number of months, and then followed up with "...unless of course you have plans to break up with me before then..." (said with a smile). His immediate response? "I don't plan on ever breaking up with you in this lifetime."

Since I know this is a skill that he worked on over the years, at times I get nervous that maybe everything he says is just another smooth line that he knows any girl would want to hear. But then again, he isn't always that slick when trying to convey something he is really thinking or feeling, this category is a tough one for him. It's my impression that he has the words in his head, but struggles to get them to come out as eloquently from his mouth.

When we had been dating for roughly two weeks he said, "The thing is...you are the missing piece." I responded to this with a questioning look. "No, what I mean is you were the piece I needed. Like I had this God-shaped hole for a long time, and then I started praying, found a relationship with God...and now it's filled. Well similarly, I had a you-shaped hole...that only YOU could fill, like that poem."

I raise my eyebrows, "What poem?"

"You know the one we read when we were kids, by Shel Silverstein. It's all about this missing piece and rolling around looking for it. Nothing else fits, until the right piece does and that is you."

I smiled to myself at the way he went about trying to make me understand. I actually never read the poem, not even after that conversation...until today.

The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein

It was missing a piece. And it was not happy.
So it set off in search of its missing piece.


And as it rolled, it sang this song
"Oh I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
Hi-dee-ho, here I go, Lookin' for my missin' piece"


Sometimes it baked in the sun
but then the cool rain would come down.


And somethimes it was frozen by the snow

but then the sun would come and warm it again.


And because it was missing a piece it could not roll very fast

so it would stop to talk to a worm
or smell a flower

and sometimes it would pass a beetle
and sometimes the beetle would pass it
and this was the best time of all.


And on it went, over oceans
"Oh I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
Over land and over seas
So grease my knees and fleece my bees.
I'm lookin' for my missin' piece."

through swamps and jungles
up mountains
and down mountains

Until one day, lo and behold!
"I've found my missin' piece
I've found my missin' piece
So grease my knees and fleece my bees
I've found my..."


"Wait a minute" said the piece.
"Before you go greasing your knees and fleecing your bees..."
"I am not your missing piece. I am nobody's piece.
I am my own piece. And even if I was somebody's missing piece I don't think I'd be yours!"


"Oh" it said sadly "I'm sorry to have bothered you"

And on it rolled.
It found another piece
but this one was too small.
And this one was too big.
This one was a little too sharp.
And this one was too square.


One time it seemed to have found the perfect piece
but it didn't hold it tightly enough and lost it.
Another time it held too tightly
and it broke.


So on and on it rolled,
having adventures
falling into holes
and bumping into stone walls.


And then one day it came upon another piece that seemed to be just right.

"Hi" it said.

"Hi" said the piece.

"Are you anybody else's missing piece?"

"Not that I know of"

"Well, maybe you want to be your own piece?"

"I can be someone's and still be my own."

"Maybe I do."

"Maybe we won't fit.."

"Well..." "Hummmm?" "Ummmmm!"


It fit! It fit perfectly! At last! At last!
And away it rolled

and because it was now complete,
it rolled faster and faster,
Faster than it had ever rolled before!

So fast that it could not stop to talk to a worm
or smell a flower
too fast for a butterfly to land.
But it could sing its happy song,
at last it could sing

"I've found my missing piece"
And it began to sing

"I've frown my nizzin'geez
Uf vround my mitzin'brees
So krease ny meas An bleez ny dregs Uf frown..."

Oh my, now that it was complete it could not sing at all
"Aha" it thought. "So that's how it is!"

So it stopped rolling....
and it set the piece down gently,
and slowly rolled away

and as it rolled it softly sang
"Oh I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
Hi-dee-ho,here I go,
Lookin' for my missin' piece."

Of course IMMEDIATELY after reading this I texted my boyfriend to say, "So I just read the missing piece poem by silverstein and it doesn't end so well. Did you realize that?"

He responds, "No,it's been awhile. I just remember the good part. How does it end?"

"Well the missing piece makes him roll too fast and miss out on stuff...and he can't sing anymore...so he sets the piece down and rolls away. Kind sad actually."

So he says, "That is sad. Funny how we only remember what we want to. What I know though is that I just love you so much!"

and as always...he had me at the missing piece.