Our billionth date.

I’ve started to lose track after nine months of laughter and kisses and hand-holding.

It was our billionth date.


We went out ice skating. He was just as clumsy as I was-his black rented skates too big for his double-socked feet; the laces coming undone as soon as we got onto the ice. We laughed as little kids dashed around and hit into us-spraying one another with ice shavings and snow balls. It was not nearly as romantic as I had always thought ice skating would be-and that’s what made it absolutely perfect.

We spent the next two hours in a flurry of laughter-him pushing me across the ice from behind, and me shrieking for him to stop. I giggled as I pushed him lightly away, his fluffy brown hair rippling in the wind.

I remember it so clearly that I relive those precious moments whenever I close my eyes or hear out song playing on my i-Pod.



“Don’t you trust me?” That adorable puppy dog look overtakes his features as he pretends to frown. I laugh as I roll my eyes.

“Of course I trust you, cutie. It’s the ice that I don’t trust.” I wink at him as I skate away. He catches up quickly.

“But…I’ll protect you!” He flashes that boy-ish grin that I have come to know so well. He’s trying to look manly and grown-up, but I can’t take him so seriously when he’s wearing a bright blue shirt quoting How I Met Your Mother.

“I know you will…but what if the ice cracks!? What if there’s a sea monster and it tries to eat us as we fall into the perpetual oblivion that lies beneath the ice!?” I look up at him, attempting to stay straight-faced as put my hands on my hips. He’s trying to figure out what I said, but I can tell he tuned out that last part about the sea monster.

“Don’t worry.” That amazing smile returns to his face. “I’ll still protect you. Besides-this ice is only two inches thick!”

“That’s exactly what they want you to think!” I smile broadly as I turn to skate away-but he grabs me by the waist and pulls me in for one of those rare displays of public affection that he knows I get a kick out of.

And that’s when I realized how truly wonderful and perfect he was. He was awkward and silly just as I was, but he always knew exactly how to make a moment perfect. He knew how to create memories that would always be burned into my mind. He not just any teenage boy-he was special. Extraordinary. Amazing. Wonderful.

And in that fleeting moment on the ice-he was mine.
It was our billionth date, and we went out ice skating. We were two awkward people who could barely stay up on the ice, but somehow we made it through the seven to nine session without falling. And that’s what made it absolutely perfect.