The Bachelor & the bachelor

I would just like to say that Mark3 has once again proven himself. Allow me to explain:

I am, admittedly, a pathetically obsessive fan of The Bachelor. I have seen every season.

Every. Season.

Well, likely out of some kind of karmic spite for my undying devotion to this horribly indulgent reality show, my DVR has decided to betray me each season by opting never to record "The Bachelor: After the Final Rose" (and for any of you not in the know, this is the show where they bring back the "winners" for a full debriefing on the show's conclusion). Again, I wasn't home in time to see it live this season, nor was I there to manually record it, and so again, there would be no Final Rose for me.

I called Mark3 while I was on my way home last Monday. Having realized earlier that night that - once again - I had failed to schedule the recording of the special, I lamented the likelihood of my DVR's screw-ups to him (as if I thought he cared). Then, a little bit later, when I found myself at Mark3's house (I quite never made it home), he sat me down in front of the television to reveal the most glorious site my eyes could behold on the TV of a man I'm seeing: a recorded Final Rose show.

And as if this wasn't enough, he proceeded to sit there and watch the entire show with me, asking relevant questions from time to time. I'm sure that he didn't really care to know the answers, but the fact that he was trying to be interested in what interests me is what counts.

Now, for the record, I think it is worth mentioning that since the series began, every guy I’ve dated has watched The Bachelor too. BUT, even with guns to their heads, they each would deny that fact. Truth is, each of them would sit on the couch every night that the Bachelor was on and we were together and, unfailingly, each would pretend to read a book or a magazine, holding it in front of their faces so as to camouflage the fact that they were peering over their chosen publication to take in the entire show.

The suckiest thing about this scenario was that, while they were obviously interested, not a one of them could bear to let me know that he'd actually grown kind of fond of something that I liked. I, however, had made a concerted effort over the years to actively appreciate the various things that they were interested in. I learned the nuances of baseball. I tried my hand at wakeboarding. I attended every independent film festival within a two-hour radius. I sat through dozens of concerts played by bands I'd never heard of. And I watched every single episode of Battlestar Gallactica that was ever filmed. I didn't start out liking any of this stuff, but I learned to like it all.

When dating someone, I thought you were supposed to learn to share in each other's interests. I thought this was something you just did without really questioning. I thought that's a vital part of building a lasting and mutually rewarding relationship.

After spending this evening in the company of my beloved Bachelor and Mark3, I'm finally starting to think that maybe I was right.