How I Met Love, Yoga

Tuesday, May 20, 2008, Day 18

My roommate Kim and I had moved the furniture and laid out our mats in preparation for yoga that morning. We followed a program that came on the television every day and found it a wonderful way to start the morning. It wasn't every day, though, that we had someone else joining us :) Shanam knocked on the door 5 minutes before it started.

"Just in time! Come on. We've got a mat all set up for you!" I said as I opened the door to let him in.

"Well, good morning to you, too!" he joked. "Hey, Kim! How are you? You're doing yoga with us? Great. Now I'll have too girls laughing at me the whole time!"

"I won't laugh too hard." Kim joked back. "You're free to laugh at me, too. I haven't been doing this for very long."

"Well, I'm sure you're much better than I am! I can't even touch my toes."

"This is going to be fun!" I said, lightly pushing him off balance as he stood on his mat.

I was impressed at what a good sport he was and that he was willing to even try yoga in the first place. As the program began, I watched out of the corner of my eye as he tried to follow the basic warm up positions. I couldn't help but smile at how cute he was :) We tried to take it seriously as the program progressed into some deeper poses, but it was just too funny to watch him try to balance and stretch at the same time. His body quivered and he would tip over to the side every time, catching himself with a loud thud as his foot hit the hard tile floor. He did try, though, through the laughter, but in the end we resorted to sitting and talking on the floor while pretending to stretch. Not the most productive yoga session, but definitely worth the ab workout provided by the laughter! :)

When the program ended, we headed to the kitchen and enjoyed a nice breakfast with Kim, then made our way to my bedroom where Jennlyn was still asleep. We quietly climbed onto my bed to cuddle and talk but I guess we were too loud because before we knew it, Jennlyn was awake.

"Hey, Shanam." she said sleepily. "I didn't know you were coming over this morning. I would have done my hair for you." We all laughed, remembering her previous morning "do."

"Hey, I wanna cuddle, too." she said.

With that, she grabbed her teddy bear and made her way over to my bed where she climbed on and proceeded to steamroll us.

"Haha! Jennlyn get off!" We laughed and I started tickling her so she would stop. Once I started that, she immediately jumped off the bed and jumped back to hers, still clutching her teddy bear. We all talked for a while, then she left and got ready for the day so we could chat by ourselves. It was lovely laying in each others arms, having no where we needed to be, having nothing we needed to do. We were content just to be in each others company.

"I brought all the stuff I needed to fix the flat tire on your bike, if you want me to do that today." he mentioned.

I was blown away that he had remembered me telling him about my flat tire a few days back and that he would take the initiative to not only fix it for me but to buy and bring all the stuff he needed to do it.

"Are you serious! That would be awesome!" I responded exuberantly. "How did I get so lucky to have a man like you around!" I was seriously impressed and I wanted to make sure he knew that :)

We spent the morning leisurely talking as we moved from one location of the house to the next, spending time by the pool, on the swing, walking hand in hand through the yard. Time seemed to stand still whenever we were together.

After fixing my bike, we decided to go to PF Changs for lunch. I loved going out to eat with him. We had such similar taste in food and loved sharing each others meals. We made sure not to get the same thing so that we could try both dishes and we loved to critique and comment on what we thought of it. The simple act of sharing our love of good food was so gratifying and unifying.

We were enjoying our chicken lettuce wraps, when Shanam nonchalantly threw out the invitation, "Why don't you come out to Utah with me?"

I almost choked. "Like, in two weeks?"

"Well, ya. Wouldn't you like to see your family?"

"Of course I would, but I can't afford that. Plus, how am I supposed to get a week off of work in such short notice?"

Shanam sat and looked at me for a second, then said, "If you can figure out how to get work off, I'll take care of your plane tickets."

His generous offer took me by surprise and I didn't know what to say.

"Between my dad and I, we've got lots of frequent flyer miles, so it would be no problem at all." He tried to assure me. "I would really love it if you could come."

I was still taken back by the invitation.

"Of course, if you feel like that's too much, you could always say no." He said, trying to guess what I was thinking and fill the silence.

Still trying to formulate my thoughts, I said."No, no. I do want to go. And I'm so grateful for the invitation. It just took me by surprise. That's all. Are you sure you'd be okay getting my plane tickets? I mean, I guess I could see if anyone would be able to trade shifts with me, but wow, ok. Let me think about this." I was still trying to wrap my brain around the idea.

"I've told my sister all about you and she would really like to meet you. And plus, you'd actually be there when I meet your parents." He said smiling.

I looked up at him and somehow, seeing that smile, made the whole situation not as serious as I was making it. I told him I would see what I could do at work and let him know as soon as I figured out a way to go. The idea of traveling with him made my heart beat just a little bit faster with excitement :)