Large Stuffed Tiger seeks Brash, Obnoxious Companion

The Calvin and Hobbes thing goes back to Milta. I still need to tell her story here, but in short she was the Puerto Rican woman from Springfield that I met over the CB radio and dated for a few months way back in 1995. She and I got pretty tight for a while, even if that relationship was yet another example of the Wheel of Destiny putting someone in my path who would move me on elsewhere. Around Christmas-time she bought me a Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt, which I may still have around here somewhere, and the running joke between us became that she was the Calvin to my Hobbes. To really get this post I would hope you'd have some familiarity with that classic comic strip, but I'll try to make everything clear just in case.

Calvin is the protagonist of the strip. He's wild and mischeivous and something of a troublemaker. Hobbes is his stuffed tiger, who Calvin believes is real (and so do I), and acts as something of a counterbalance to Calvin. Hobbes is the quieter, thoughtful one of the two -- the one who will raise a skeptical eyebrow at Calvin's more outlandish schemes and ideas. That's the sort of role I tend to fall into my own self. Milta may have initiated the comparison, but I've played that role longer than that.

And I've met a lot of Calvins. Examples include, but are not limited to: Milta, Shannon, Melissa, Jason M, Aaron, Brad, Larissa, Samantha, Jessica, Chrissy, Dan, and the most recent example -- Jennifer. Usually, I have a pretty productive sort of chemistry with these Calvin types. I feed off of the wild creative energy and turn it into something for my own use. Or else they show up out of nowhere, help change my life, and then disappear. For whatever reason, I attract Calvins. That isn't a bad thing. It's just a fact.

I think it's interesting that the two most significant sustained relationships I have right now -- Colleen and Guinevere -- aren't Calvin types. I don't really have a theory to cover this, except that while the Calvins can introduce catastrophic change for the better (most of the time), the relationship isn't one that will last for the longterm. The data seems to indicate that my Calvin and Hobbes relationships, while a hell of a lot of fun, will inevitably burn themselves out.

I suppose it could be argued that the three non-Calvins I listed are in fact the Hobbes's to my Calvin. I'm sure I've done and said a lot of things that have gotten their eyebrows raised in a skeptical manner. Yeah. There's no doubt about that.

I've also met some Susie Derkins's along the way. We won't be discussing them in this post, however.