A New Kind of Tear

Ry came over on his way home from work. I could tell he was excited about tonight. I gave him his gifts and he totally freaked out. He loved them. So, later, at 7:40 he came to pick me up. I wore the red skirt my sister bought me for Christmas, a black turtleneck and my boots, all just as he had requested.

Just as we are driving away, he freaks out and makes this big fit about how he forgot the directions to the restaurant at home. (Mind you, I have been thinking he was gonna do something special at home for about a week not). So I smile. He talks about how now we won't even get there til like 9pm, but he has this sweet connection so it doesn't matter if he's late. He's doing this guy's computer for him. He decides to call "Mr. Bailey" and tell him we are running late because he forgot the directions at home. Yadda Yadda, big show, lies, it was all hilarious because I was 90% sure it was all a lie which was fantastic.

So we pull in at his house and he tells me Ellen wanted to see how pretty I looked before we go out. So, we come in and Ed and Ellen are sitting at their candlelit dinner table relaxing and smiling. (Ryan looks fabulous by the way). Ellen says I just look gorgeous and they both wish us a happy night . . . "whatever it is you two end up doing." So BJ, their high school son comes in and wishes me a Happy Valentine's Day. That's when I knew they were all in on it.

Ryan leads me downstairs. The first thing I hear is Norah Jones singing, "It's not the pale moon that delights me . . ." and I see a table, lace cloth, lit candelabra with red candles, Ellen's beautiful china plates, goblets, a heater placed next to my chair and Ryan just looked at me. He led me to my seat and took my coat off for me and pulled out my chair. He sat me down and got right to work. As he went upstairs to get our dinner, I started tearing.

This man loves me so very much! He has worked so hard for this. Even though I knew it was coming, this still shocked me. This is the second time he has done that to me - exceeding my already preset emotional capacity.

So he brought us wonderful steak and garlic mashed potatoes that I have been craving and caesar salad and sparkling cider and chocolate truffles and wonderful bread. It was simply a delight. He asked me to dance and it was just so wonderful.

Did I mention that it was all wonderful?
+10 for Ryan!!