Life with Brian is nothing if not exciting.

We are similar in so many ways… we love dogs, we love the water, we love running. We have similar values, we both appreciate the simple things in life, we are each other’s best friend.

But there are differences, all right.

I’m a very nervous person by nature. (I may come across differently, as I’ve been told that I seem like a calm person, but I guess I put up a good front.) I worry. I obsess. I tend to prefer things black and white – no room for uncertainty.

Brian is a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of guy. He’s confident and in control,  and can pretty much feel comfortable in any situation.

I admire this about him.

But it doesn’t put me at ease when we are in the middle of a situation in which I feel very much out of control.

Case in point: this weekend we were taking a ride around the harbor on Brian’s boat. It reminded me a lot of our first date, as it was on that very harbor around this same time of year. It was very peaceful.

The skies were clear, the water was calm and there were a lot of other people out on the harbor.

We were enjoying the boat ride with the dogs and I was taking some photos of our beautiful surroundings…

… when I said to Brian, “I think I smell gasoline.”

Brian told me to steer the boat while he went to the back to check it out.

“Yup, we have a gas leak,” he said.

Now, I didn’t grow up around boats, so I’m not familiar with everything that goes into making one run, but I would assume that a gas leak is not good.

Plus, as you’ll recall, I’m a nervous person, so when Brian said, “gas leak” what I heard was: “prepare for capsize.”

In typical Brian fashion, he was as calm as can be, and called a friend who has a house on a nearby island. Brian asked if he had any Teflon tape handy. He did, so we headed over to the island and Brian got it.

As Brian was doing whatever he was doing to fix the gas leak with tape, I heard thunder in the distance. I looked to the west and saw dark storm clouds. There were also bolts of lighting in the distance.

And we still had to get home.

Starting to feel the panic alarms going off, as calmly as possible I asked Brian how his tape job was coming along. Because I wanted to go home now.

We were pretty much silent on the way home, mostly because I knew I would start to cry if I tried to say anything. But whenever I looked over at Brian, it looked like he was enjoying himself… a man with no worries… out on the harbor with his fiancee and his dogs… a storm brewing in the distance, not overhead.

When we got back to the dock, Brian assured me that he knew we were never in any danger – that he would never put me in any danger – and that he wasn’t scared or nervous at any point during our harbor jaunt.

(So that made one of us.)

And he also promised he would bring the boat to a repair shop to get the gas leak situation checked out.

And the thing is, I trust Brian. His family has owned boats since he was born. He knows what he’s doing and I know he is more than capable of handling any situation that might come up on the boat – or anywhere, for that matter. I feel safe with him.

A gas leak on a boat? Brian playing MacGyver with Teflon tape? Thunder and lightning in the distance?

I guess that just comes with the territory when you’re with someone who makes life exciting.