The soliloquy of Hans Gerwitz

What really mat­ters for mutual unders­tan­ding of two peo­ple are such things as having simi­lar res­pon­ses to music (not just sha­red likes but also sha­red dis­li­kes), having simi­lar res­pon­ses to peo­ple (again, I mean both likes and dis­li­kes), having simi­lar degrees of empathy, honesty, patience, sen­ti­men­ta­lity, auda­city, ambi­tion, com­pe­ti­ti­ve­ness, and so on. These cen­tral buil­ding blocks of per­so­na­lity, cha­rac­ter, and tem­pe­ra­ment are deci­sive in mutual understanding.

…It is these sorts of aspects, these inner­most aspects of a soul (as oppo­sed to such rela­ti­vely objec­tive and trans­fe­ra­ble items as coun­tries visi­ted, novels read, cui­si­nes mas­te­red, his­to­ri­cal facts known, and so forth) that make for soul-​​uniqueness.

Dou­glas Hofs­tad­ter, I Am a Strange Loop, p. 235

Shan­non and I are enga­ged!

Reac­tions have run the gamut from “already?” to “finally!” To us it seems not a dra­ma­tic event, but rather a for­mal social recog­ni­tion of intert­wi­ned per­so­na­li­ties. Just before pro­po­sing I was asked whether I was ner­vous, and rea­li­zed that I simply was not. I now unders­tand how natu­ral a rela­tionship can be. Ins­tead of social obli­ga­tion or lifestyle, I am moti­va­ted by enthu­siasm for today and the future.