Masochism or Love

It's either masochism or it's love - perhaps it's both.  Either way, I experienced pain tonight.  Let me preface this with one important piece of information - Rowen loves to offer items of food to people and will watch until they consume it (or at least pretend to).  

So while eating dinner over at Helen and Rowen's house (oh, and Elliot's - haha), Rowen grabs a lemon wedge and hands it to me.  I lick it and make the "sour face," hamming it up for her a bit.  Of COURSE the little booger LOVES it and offers another wedge to me.  This time, I say "Rowen, too sour!" ---but lick it anyway.  Long story short, a series of her handing me lemon wedges, making faces, saying "sour!" her proceeding to lick the lemon wedge and make equally exaggerated faces and her version of "too sour!" commenced and good times were to be had.  Eventually, we even got Helen to join in the "fun" (though, to her credit, she didn't find the lemon as sour as I did - tough palate!).  

Now, where does the masochism/love come in?  Rowen thought my faces were so hilarious that I thought "hmmm, perhaps if I actually bite into one and show her just how sour it is, she'll stop handing them to me" thereby putting an end to my misery.  (OR, as it turns out, she'd think it more hilarious and continue to hand me lemon wedges.)  But, I bit into the first one nevertheless, and though it pained me to do so, I simultaneously squeezed my eyes shut and the juice free from the lemon.  Apparently, my face was priceless because Rowen mimicked it and handed me another wedge.

So how does this story end?  With three painfully consumed lemon wedges, paralyzed taste buds, resorting to hiding the remaining lemon wedges, and the endearing laughs and enduring love of a two-year old.  

Masochism or love?  sigh  Must be both.  But could YOU refuse that face?  I know I can't.