Not a rainhat.

[icarus]

So all teasing aside, wildernessguru did not give me a rainhat for my birthday.

Instead, he bought us two tickets to the figure skating championships.

There's a story behind this that many of you know. This past January 27th I was supposed to go to the national figure skating championships. It was my Christmas present. He bought the ticket, I paid for the hotel, bus fare, everything else. He didn't want to go, so it was just the one ticket for me. I could not have been more excited, especially since I've been writing Out Of Bounds, an SGA figure skating AU.

wildernesguru's mother had been ill for a couple of years, cancer, and the week before the championships she was given two weeks to live. Chemo had failed and the cancer was back with a vengeance. She moved into a hospice and we went down to see her. She passed away on January 27th. We watched the figure skating from the hotel, though really, we weren't in the mood.

Life went into turmoil for a while, more for me than for wildernessguru, I don't know why.

Then wildernessguru mentioned, "How much are those tickets again?" and "When are they having those figure skating championships again?"

He bought tickets for both of us. Not just the men's final freeskate, but the short program and the closing Gala. He said, "What's the point of flying all the way out there to do just one? Let's make a weekend of it."

I told my dad and he said, "My opinion of [wildernessguru] keeps growing increasingly high. What a fine young man."

No kidding. I take back my crack about the rainhat. And I hope he enjoys the figure skating as much as I. I'm heaping praise on a generous, thoughtful man. wildernessguru deserves it.