He comes down from the mountain...

...to spend time with me. He has three days off, and can't wait to get to me. His first day off, though, coincides with my son's root canal. As I sit in the dentist's office watching my poor kiddo go through numerous shots and a lengthy procedure, Ranger texts me with his progress to get here. Remember when I got chastised for speeding? Ha! He can't do that anymore; he made much better time than I did!

My son and I head to the store to get some pain reliever and soft food for him. As I start to get out of the car, I ask him, "Sweetie, what else can I get you?" He turns puppy-eyes on me and says through a numbed mouth, "How about a set of new guitar strings?" Ah-ha...he's doing quite well, to know it's a good time to play on Mom's sympathies.

When I return to the car, he says he's hungry for French onion soup. Ranger texts again. Son asks if he can join us for lunch. We all head to the local Red Robin for soup and burgers. Ranger and Son sit beside each other. We laugh a lot. Son's pain isn't bad and he's able to eat fries with his soup. Ranger mentions needing to get some DVDs at Hastings. Son's eyes light up. "Can I go, too? I want to get a CD."

On the way to Hastings, Ranger pulls alongside my car and rolls down all his windows. He's playing "Rock Star" again, and this time Son gets to chime in. Although...he says we're insane. Ha ha!

We end up spending the afternoon together. A delightful time, the three of us together. Ranger is coming over for dinner later, to meet my dad. He's nervous. He's a little old fashioned about having parental approval, but I like that. He's anxious to get along with my folks and be part of the family.

I cooked dinner again, a lovely chicken and rice casserole that's always a hit. Ranger has two LARGE helpings of it! I'm very happy with that. He's an excellent cook, but I want him to realize that I can hold my own, too. We ended up sitting around living room, watching Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern (what's wrong with that man's palate?) on the Travel Channel. It was a nice family setting. Son even brought out his guitars and they picked on those for awhile. My daughter dragged him out to the garage to hear her play the drums. What a trooper he was....I knew his ears had to be ringing from it! But he enjoyed it all, and let them know he did.

We agreed to meet in the morning and go out the following night. It will be our first "traditional" date -- dinner and a movie. The next morning was glorious. Making love with Ranger is so different from anyone before him. He is completely in tune to the cues of my body. He focuses on me completely, which makes me want to focus on him all the more. We had a very honest discussion a few days ago of likes and dislikes, and he remembers what I said and why I said it. I've never experienced that level of consideration, coupled with a high level of passion. To him, every inch of me is beautiful -- even the parts I personally abhor. Astounding.

He brought me an interesting gift. When I'd been at the park the week before, he noticed that the car charger for my phone was wonky. It's actually broken and will only work for a short time, and if you set it at just the right angle. He worries about me getting stranded. So, not only did he bring me a new charger, but he also gave me an adapter to make it a plug-into-the-wall charger when I need that. A gift of cell phone hardware might not be incredibly romantic, but it's just so danged considerate, isn't it?

He's also purchased a 170gb external drive, to give me his entire music collection. It's an impressive collection! I can't wait to get ahold of that!

I called him when I was on the way to his motel. "Come on in," he said. "I'm having to deal with my ex for a bit. My daughter got in some trouble at school and we need to work out what to do about it."

He's been trying hard to keep their conversations about their children only. His ex has been fishing to come to Utah and "talk" about their relationship. His solution has been to start telling her about me, and let her know that he's moved on. Their relationship is about their children, and that's it.

As I entered the room, I could hear him on the phone. They were still discussing consequences for their daughter, but we was trying to wrap it up. Finally, he said, "Well, do you have anything else to say that directly relates to our child?" I glanced at him. He wasn't looking at me, but this is what he told me he's been saying when she tries to take the conversation to inappropriate territory.

His end of the conversation went something like: "Well, yes, I am in a hurry. [pause] I have plans tonight and I need to get going. [pause] Yes, it's a date. [pause] Yes, her. She just got here." THEN he looked at me and gave me a smile.

A sidenote: she called the following evening to announce that she, too, had a date. Then, she launched into questions about me. He answered what he felt was her business. She apparently decided that I "can't be all bad" because we have the same middle name. Weird, huh?

Ranger took me to dinner at Chili's, where he made a hilarious mess of some baby back ribs, and we had a ridiculously good time with a molten chocolate volcano cake. When I but into the cake and let out the "molten" chocolate part, he accused me of having a shocking disregard
for the safety of the villagers who live near the volcano. The waiter was terribly confused by my protests!

The movie was "10,000 BC," which I enjoyed more than I thought I would! Of course, you have to suspend disbelief that mammoths were in the desert, building pyramids. BUT it's a good story, anyhow. And the love story was sweet. At the moment when I thought all was lost for our heroic lovers, I heard a sniffle beside me. Ranger was teared up. Later, he told me he imagined how it would feel if he was losing me like that. Oh man....I just love this. It's soooo sappy, but what am I if not the World's Biggest Sap? I'm completely hopeless, and he gets it.

Ranger had to leave the following day. I had to work in the morning, but I stopped by to see him early. We curled up together, fully-dressed, and talked. Finally, he said to me. "I want you to understand that I don't expect you to show up and make love every morning. That's not what this is about for me. And I don't want you to think that it's all I want from you. I just want to be close to you, in any way I can."

I was glad to hear that because, honestly, I was trying to figure out a way to say, "Listen, I think I have a bladder infection, so I don't think getting naked would be a great idea this morning." Oh yeah, I'm soooo smooth.... But I didn't have to say it. My stomach growled, and we decided maybe breakfast was a better idea. Besides, I had to get to work soon.

That afternoon, I got a break for a late lunch. Ranger asked if I was headed home after that. Why do you ask? I wanted to know. Apparently, a package was due at my house at any time. He'd found something for me and had it overnighted to get to me immediately. And he wouldn't give me a hint. He did give me an evil grin, though. He fully understands this terrible combination of curiosity and impatience that brews in my blood, AND he fully exploits it to make me squirm! Do I really mind? Nope.

We said our goodbyes. I wasn't ready to start missing him yet. I felt a lump in my throat as he drove away. Saying goodbye is getting harder all the time.

A package was sitting on my doorstep at home. I tore into it and found....something someone who truly knows me would understand how much it meant to me. I have some of my collection of Star Wars toys in my office. I recalled a conversation about two particular toys -- Mr. Potato Head versions of Darth Vader ("Darth Tater") and a Stormtrooper ("Spudtrooper"). I said, "But I'm missing the third one. I haven't found him here yet. It's a version of Artoo Detoo."

Staring at me from inside the package was a brand new, in-the-box, "Artoo Potatoo" of my very own.

Oh yeah, he gets me.