Losing faith in a relationship can be difficult, but 30-year-old Kristin Lowry has found a way to combat her dissatisfaction. Whenever her four-year relationship starts to feel lackluster, she regains her faith by remembering the time her boyfriend cooked her a beautiful plate of spaghetti nearly six months ago.
“I really wish my boyfriend Jasper would grow up,” says Lowry. “He never cleans our apartment, I always take the dog out even though it’s our dog and I sometimes have to cover his half of the rent. But then I remember that half a year ago he boiled water, put in pasta, strained it, then covered it in a tomato sauce from the jar, which up until that point I didn’t even realize he was capable of. That made a lasting impression on me.”
“I’m really holding onto that memory in order to make this work,” she added.
Lowry has repeatedly reminded her boyfriend, Jasper, of how much she enjoyed “that one time he cooked dinner,” but he was quick to dismiss any rumor he’d be making food again any time soon.
“On the one hand, I’m glad I could make her happy,” he says. “On the other hand, she’s always bringing up that one time I cooked for her and I really don’t want her expectations to be that high.”
Friends of Lowry’s don’t quite understand why the one time Jasper did something for her outweighs literally every other thing he’s ever done.
“Spaghetti is truly one of the most basic foods you can make,” says friend Rachel Boxer. “This is not something worth holding onto for more than two, three days at most.”
Still, Lowry is convinced that running through that night is enough to keep her going for at least two more years.
“When Jasper is at my wits’ end, I close my eyes and remember that night,” says Lowry. “It was a Thursday, and he grabbed two bowls from the shelf and put some pasta in each bowl, set it down on the table and said, ‘I’m not cleaning up because I cooked.’”
