Firepits, Frozen, and Flames - Part 3

"So how many siblings do you have?"

They were driving up the canyon to Snowbird where she would attempt snowboarding for the first time with a perfect stranger.
Awwww yeah, this couldn't get any more hilarious. I am in a car, driving to a ski resort with someone who crept on me. And we are having this great small talk. Wait, if he has been reading my blog he probably knows the answers to these questions. Why is he asking me this? Hmmm...
She had borrowed her friends snowboarding gear and was pretty excited to see how it would go.

"Uh...that might sound like a straightforward question, but it isn't. I have 9 siblings; 5 sisters and 4 brothers. But if you had asked me that last summer I would have said 8. How about you?"
Meh, maybe I should have just given the simple answer....oops

"I am an only child," he said to her.

ONLY CHILD?! Uh oh. 
"No one likes an only child."
I definitely said that out loud. Oops. Ah well. I don't have much to prove here. HA!
"I mean I couldn't tell you were an only child so that is great news for you"
...and me...

Firepits, Frozen, and Flames - Part 2b

"You did what?"

His dad said like it was the first time he had ever talked to a girl.

"Hah, yeah."

"The one whose blog you showed us?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Haha, dude!"

It was a tender father son moment as they high fived each other with big smiles on their faces.

"I wondered if you would." his dad said with a smirk on his face

"Yeah, so did I."

"What do you think she'll say?"

"She called me crazy, then she said she would consider it, we talked... and now we are going snowboarding next week!"

"Dude!"

Whew, that sort of couldn't have gone smoother. I wonder what her parents think...

Firepits, Frozen, and Flames - Part 2

"Snowboarding?!"

"Yeah", she said to her mother. 

"You are going snowboarding with the guy who asked you out on your blog last week?" 

"Yeah.....pretty much."

"Why? You don't snowboard. You don't even like skiing." Her sisters agreed with their mom. 

Pshhh, they think they know me. 

"Ok well that might be true, but I could like snowboarding. I've never been before. Maybe I am a pro and I don't even know."

"So you are going snowboarding on a first date with this kid." Her mom said it skeptically as though she had said they were going shopping for their first date.

"That is the plan," she said. 

She knew they would be astonished. Incredulous even. But whatever, it didn't bother her. She didn't even care. She thought it was brilliant. The whole thing. Completely nuts and completely brilliant.

Firepits, Frozen, and Flames - Part 1b

He came home late that night from a class where they analyzed the Book of Mormon using the "scholar's tools". It helped to bring his mind out of the orthodoxy orbit of the culture, but he mostly liked going to enjoy a meal with his friends. He had been religiously reading the blog of his new "celebrity crush"(or that's sort of how he saw her anyway) for maybe three weeks now and would wrap it all up tonight.

Jeeesh... I hope she posts again soon. This stuff is soul food.

Though they had never met, there was a comfortable and familiar vibe he felt as he read. She said "out loud" many things he always wanted to say, but was too much of a wimp to let out of his mind. He would often be confronted with the thought of asking her on a date, but thought she was way too high a caliber for him.

Who am I kidding? This girl is going to change the world. Why would I interfere with that?

And then the inner voice-feeling came: "Ask her."

"What? No! That is stupid. No."

"Yes, do it"... "I can't. Look at her... great, now look at me. I can't."... "Look, this could be a great blessing for you, what do you have to lose? There is far more to gain from this than to lose."

This self-conversation went on for a bit until he somehow became convinced that it really was worth a shot.

The worst that could happen would be my pride gets hurt a little and I could continue to happily read her blog as I had done before... right?

"Never saw it like that... maybe I'm foolish..."

He read it again, and again, and again.

"Send it"... "Ahhhhh..."..."Yes, send it."..."AHHHH!"..."Send it!"

Click

Firepits, Frozen, and Flames - Part 1

She woke up in the house she grew up in. Christmas break. She was home from college for a month. A glorious month before she started her last semester in Wyoming before studying abroad in Guatemala.

She didn’t feel like getting out of bed yet so she used her phone to check her email. She had heard all the who haw about not sleeping with your cell phone cause it causes cancer and stuff but she occasionally did it anyway. One new email: “New activity on the post “Relationships are like a Poker Game”. 

New activity? Who commented on that? I mean it was a cool post but…hmmm. 

I do not know this person. Ugh…if this is another freaky stranger who feels like they know me cause they read my blog I don't know what I will do. 

And that is how it began.