To answer directly, no, nothing has surprised us. We already know each other particularly well after nearly 10 years. Maybe living together in the same 500 sq ft in New York also helped to push that learning curve along.

That being said, we have each learned some subtle little things about each other we didnt know before the trip.

Chris’ list of things he learned about Val:

• When trying new food she likes to offer to share her food with you after exactly two bites. I often haven’t even sampled my dish, so I consider this over-sharing.
• The Rokhlin-Napping gene is heavy in her blood. I thought only her sisters were infected with the polar bear version of this genetic disorder. Nope. If you remove the work from the day, she will nap it away.
• It is an absolute requirement that we weight all the doors in our house such that they close themselves. She walks through doors and assumes they will close themselves. New York has spoiled her!

Valerie’s list of things she learned about Chris:

• I thought his OCD only extended to needing to empty his pockets immediately upon getting home. Nope. He’s very particular about all things being done in the right order and being placed in the right spot. God forbid you put the iPad in the backpack not facing the right direction!
• Always knew that he cursed a lot, but wasn’t prepared to be accosted 24/7 with F-bombs.
• That his writing talents go beyond the mini-business novels he emails to co-workers or the beautiful love notes I get on special occasions. It’s not surprising that he’s so good at creative writing – he always tells great stories and now he writes them too! I do chuckle at some of his spelling/grammer mistakes though 🙂