season finale.

a song to set the scene // married life by michael giacchino

It was, as my gem best described it, the feeling as if the latest season of “Keeping up with the Krulls” was ending.

I was standing in the shower and my gem, somehow, was able to read the look on my face.

“A season finale,” I repeated to him, nodding.

Shoot. He was right.

This season was coming to a close.

It was the last episode.

Not to be confused with a “series finale”, it felt as though there had been a shift, a sweet ending to one chapter and the beginnings of another.

In this so called season finale, we lost one of our central characters.

Written off the show for bigger and better opportunities, the Krull family suffered the departure of one of their own, who was off to try his hand out in the world of politics.

Present in every episode, his absence was felt by all, particularly my sister, whom he had just gotten married to.

Suddenly, it was as though all we knew, all we were used to, was flipped upside down.

Things were suddenly…. empty, without him here.

As we strove to adjust to life without him, I realized that as one character lost her man, another character gained one.

You know what always comes with a season finale?

A new season premier.

And suddenly: I was the star of the show.

See, during the throes of this season finale, my gem moved in.

While I’m lucky we live in the 21st century and don’t have to answer to horrified looks of shock when we tell people we’ve moved in together unmarried (gasp!), there still holds significance to this rather large life change.

I’ve lived with plenty of roommates in my life (some good, some… not so good), but moving in with someone I’m intimate with, is rather different.

You’re no longer just sharing a space with someone. You’re sharing a space and building a life with them.

“My” space suddenly became our space, and while there are currently many exhausting and harrowing aspects of adulthood (can we please talk about inflation here), getting to live with my gem is not one of them.

Learning how to cohabitate a space certainly hasn’t been a walk in the park.

I mean, I was perfectly content with my two cats.

We’ve had our fair share of challenges- like getting burned by boiling soup, and shaking a bottle of peanut sauce only to discover that the lid was not on (that looked like a murder scene- let me tell you), but getting through them, together, has been an adventure.

It’s the next step, an investment in our future.

And that, my friends, has been worth every cry over spilled peanut sauce.

This is big.

This is huge!

While I’m lucky enough to score someone who is the most phenomenal cook, and who genuinely loves to deep clean a bath tub (I know, right?), I’m most grateful for the opportunity to get to know my gem even more.

In the end, I feel that even though my world turned upside down, the world somehow magically turned right side up again.

One season ended and another one is just beginning.

And honestly? I have a feeling that this season is going to be one worth watching.