As I was frying bacon (for breakfast) at four o’clock in the afternoon for my boyfriend who evidently was so exhausted from the previous week that nearly twelve hours of sleep was completely requisite, I realized that I was, in fact, “living in sin.”  Nobody calls it these days besides very old women in the south, and I beg to differ on the exact terminology, but this play on words seemed interesting to me.  Daniel and I have been officially dating for almost six months now, at least if you go by the date that we went on our first date.  If you don’t, well, we started communicating two months and one day before that date, so take your pick… almost six months or almost eight months.  The point is, the honeymoon stage is over for us, a realization I had in the bathroom this morning.  In a way, this frightens me because the honeymoon stage is supposed to be the easiest part, but for us, it was really hard.  It wasn’t hard because we didn’t get along or weren’t attracted to each other, but because circumstances were such that we just couldn’t be together most of the time.  It was a huge gamble, moving in with Daniel while we were still in that glorious  phase of developing pet names and looking into each others’ eyes all night even though we were both exhausted, because it’s hard to tell from the honeymoon phase just where the relationship is going.  Still, I’d rather be here, out of the honeymoon stage, where I see Daniel for who he is— good, bad, and everywhere in between, than stuck in that pure infatuation when he can do no wrong.  At that stage, I was questioning too much whether or not I could handle truly being loved by someone in the way that Daniel loves me.  The good news is, the spark has survived despite the honeymoon’s expiration.  His eyes still follow me around the apartment while I get ready for work.  I’m still fascinated by the size and shape of his thumb.  We still curl up together after dinner and watch a movie or some shows on hulu… More importantly, I feel strong beside him.  I’m calm, my mind is clear, and for leaving my family and friends and everything I’d become accustomed to, I’m a better person for standing by his side and trying to make this work, even if it takes living in sin.