when you don't know everything about your boyfriend

Jesse and I have been together for almost 3 years, but we're so
comfortable with each other that it has always felt like longer. When
Jesse and I celebrated our one year anniversary, Jesse remarked, "I
can't believe it's only been a year. It feels like we've been
together forever." And I totally agreed.

I just got reviewed at my job and I got a raise. It was the largest
raise I had ever been given in my life. I'm talking double digit
percentage here. Obviously, I was ecstatic. So I went home that day
and shared the news with Jesse.

Me: Guess what? I got a raise today.
J: Oh really. That's great.
Me: Yeah, so I'm gonna be earning (insert salary here) now. Isn't that great?
J: Yeah, definitely. We should go out and celebrate.
Me: Hey, you know what? I just realized that I don't know how much you make.
J: Oh.
Me: I just think that's so strange that I know everything about you
but I don't know how much money you make.
J: (silence)
Me: I mean, you know money is no big deal to me. It doesn't matter
how much you make, I still love you. But you know how much I make so
how come I don't know how much you make?
J: I don't know.
Me: Well why don't you tell me?
J: Why don't you guess?

Guessing game ensues. I now know how much money Jesse makes. If
you're curious, the only thing I can tell you is that he makes twice
as much as I do (hey, I work for a non-profit).

I don't think I'll ever know everything about Jesse exactly, but it
struck me as odd that he was so secretive about his salary, yet I was
so open about it. This reminds me of how people were super secretive
about grades in college (maybe it was just me and my super-competitive
classmates). After an exam or report or any graded assignment, people
would say things like, "I did alright" or "I didn't do as well as I
thought." People never said, "I got a 90" or "I failed." The vaguer
you were about your grades, the better. It was as if revealing your
grades meant that you were admitting to yourself and others that you
were less than perfect (I know, that's completely silly).

However, in high school, it was a completely different story,
especially when it came to SAT scores.

Come to think of it, Jesse knows my SAT score but I don't know his. Hmmm…