kitten

Yes, I call my wife "kitten".

I used to call her "honey", but then she asked me a question that had a Bad Answer ... she asked, "What did you call your first wife?"

I said, " .... honey?"

Thereafter, "honey" was forever tainted and verboten, so after some discussion, we decided "kitten" was acceptable.

Now kitten doesn't share my love of paddling kayaks.  She'll ride in the tandem and let me paddle her around to spend the time with me (and I appreciate that), but she doesn't glance longingly at every body of water we pass.

I realized this very early in the relationship when we were driving somewhere and passed over a bridge -- my head followed the water like it was on a swivel.  I don't remember the words exactly, but the ensuing conversation went something like:

"What?" kitten asked, looking around to see what had attracted my attention.

"Just looking at the water," I replied.

"It's a canal," she said, perplexed.  It was the Cross-Florida Barge Canal, to be exact.  A mere twenty feet wide with fifteen foot banks and not a damn thing to see from the water.

"I wonder what if I could put in under that bridge," I muttered.

"It's a canal."

"But it goes somewhere," I replied.

Seven years later, I'm still not sure she gets it, but she tolerates my jaunts -- just as I really don't understand the seven cats and three dogs in our house, but I tolerate them.