six months!

nick and i have officially been dating for 6 months, if you can believe it!
on one hand, it seems like we've known each other our whole lives, but on the other hand, it seems like time has just flown by! that's what you call a contradiction, i suppose.

we celebrated by getting gussied up and going out on the town...
we went to zio's for supper -- it was very great! i had shrimp limone (angel hair pasta in a lemony sauce with shrimp, mushrooms, artichoke hearts & tomatoes) that was something new -- i always go for the blackened chicken alfredo at italian restaurants for some reason, but this time i was brave and it was well worth it.

then we went to get tickets for the movie in the park. while we waited for the sun to go down we wandered around and had fun playing in an adjoining park.


we played king of the hill, but without the pushing and rolling... mostly just standing and saying, 'i'm king of the hill!!' while holding arms out in emphasis.

the moveable metal man caught nick's fancy...



an outdoor classroom brought out our inner spidermen...

then the brick wall brought out our inner gq models... i think i hit the 'what is the meaning of life after all?' face dead on. unfortunately that's not a very attractive look for me... nick's lookin' good though.

yeahp, there it is again.

conveniently enough, the park we were in is connected to the park the movie was played in by a lovely walkway, bordered by greenery and flowers... this spot by the bridge proved to be a significant spot later on... i'll tell you why when i get to that part of the story.

founder's park is where they showed 'a prairie home companion', which turned out to be really good! we both enjoyed it. the park was strange though -- a random, abstract assemblage of concrete blocks stacked haphazardly. it reminded me of a place you'd dash through, avoiding mines and bombs...
we had our own little concrete block.

the movie ended around 11 p.m., so we started meandering back to the car via the park walkway (remember the shadowy picture by the bridge?) and on the way nick put down everything he was carrying and said he had something to tell me. he looked around and declared it a romantic enough spot -- not where he'd originally planned, but it was too late in the night for other plans...
he then said something along the lines of, 'don't feel like you have to say anything in response, but i've been wanting to tell you for a while now that i love you.'
now, just so you understand the import of this declaration (besides the obvious) up until this point, he's only ever said, 'i like you', which is a good thing, it's good to be liked, but we've had discussions about how saying, 'i love you' is a pretty big commitment for him, not one he's wanting to take lightly.
i smiled a big smile and said, 'i don't know about what you expected me to say, because it's pretty obvious that i love you, too.'

it was the perfect end to a very perfect date.

we're still both the same people, but articulating that commitment to each other has made me feel like a different person. i feel more secure in our relationship, and more aware of his solid dependability. it's like his good qualities have been increased in my awareness, and my ability to trust them has grown as well.
nothing practical has changed, but i feel a shift in our relationship.

a very good shift.