Falling Actually and Metaphorically

So I will admit it I finally fell pray to the charm and hype of Valentine's Day. I know my last post simply pouted about the need to conform to a specific day on which romance is prescribed and not spontaneous but sometimes things happen when you least expect it. My dear Valentine. . . keeps continually surprising me by his ability to overcome my worst moods, fears, and cynicism with patience and a sense of humor.

Despite a fairly disastrous actual Valentine's Day celebration where he still fairly new to my life cooked me a surprise dinner full of things I don't usually eat and wasn't particularly excited about, I think it is safe to say I am falling under his spell. He misses some of the details (like the fact that I don't eat pork) but always gets the main idea and takes difficulty with a great deal more grace than anyone I have ever met when wrong.

All this can be illustrated with my very first day of skiing ever. My Valentine's present from him was a day of skiing at a near by ski resort this past weekend. All those of you that know me in real life, know that I am not the most graceful person ever in fact I fall much closer to the other end of the spectrum. While somewhat athletic, I have struggled lately with bad knees and frustrations with my own physical limitations so I was more than a little worried about skiing.

The first run down the hill proved as disastrous as had feared with somewhere around a dozen crashes before making it to the bottom of the bunny slope. Granted some of these falls were intentional to avoid hitting the innocent children also learning to ski for the first time. He stayed with me the whole time and kept his cool despite me jokingly accusing him of "trying to kill me." By the fifth or sixth run down the hill, I was actually having a lot of fun. My "coach" kept telling me how great I was doing and never once lost his cool. By the end of the day my fear had faded and I knew how great it was to be supported by someone who really wanted me to succeed. He pushed me to keep going when I wanted to quit but without bullying me.

This guy . . .hmmm . . . how do I put this. . .is more than I expected and maybe just what I need.