But ... you're not him

I was at S's place this weekend, and Monday morning I was stretched out on the sofa watching him get dressed for work.

      ~ sigh ~

            Sorry, where was I?

      Oh ya.

So I am watching him get dressed, and he said to me "this must bring back some memories for you, watching a soldier get dressed for work in the morning.  The last soldier you watched get dressed in the morning was the Wolf"

(Honestly, the only memories I was having was the day when he was still in the sand and was getting dressed for his day while we were on web cam, him seemingly oblivious to the fact I was watching ... and I needed a cold shower after ...  shiver)

I responded to him in confusion, and said no, I wasn't having any "flashbacks", because "you're not him".  And I thanked him for thinking of it and being concerned. 

He stared at me for a minute, then laughed a little, and told me I was strange ...

Unfortunately, he had to go to work, and I had to head for home, so we didn't get to pursue the conversation.  I still think in his head he thinks I am comparing him to the Wolf, because they are both male and both soldiers I guess.  I don't know what, if anything, I can do to get him to understand that I know he is a different person, and I am not expecting him to do things the Wolf did.

Is it really that unusuall to be able to look past a person's clothing or physical appearance and see them as an individual? 

We have had variations on this conversation before - when he asked why I would ever want to get involved with another soldier, and I said I didn't see him or the Wolf as soldiers, they were people, and two different people.

I threw it back to him once, lovingly, reminding him that I was not his ex wife, and he shouldn't be afraid that I would react to something the same way she would have ... he didn't say anything to that, just wrapped me in his arms.

Hopefully, time will put this one to rest.

~~~~~~~~~

As a complete aside, I understand why men say they like watching their woman get dressed.  There is something very intimate about watching someone go about their routine of getting ready for their day.  Another happy memory for the memory bank.