I am sorry for the umpteenth time for blowing GC off. I have pretty much accepted that, given my current schedule, I can only be a peripheral member of this community. I assure you, it is more my loss than yours. In any case, I felt that it was necessary for me to abandon my workaholism, for tonight at least, in order to tell you guys about my evening.

I know I have not told you guys much in terms of my lgf, ⛓️‍💥[Removed]. A part twoÂ… and probably even a part three to the hyperlinked post are coming sometime in the indefinite future.

I am feeling so elated right now that I canÂ’t possibly contain myself for risk of spontaneous combustion. Okay, maybe thatÂ’s a bit melodramatic, but I had to tell somebody about tonight. I wish it could have been my best friendÂ… He gets mostly gloomy stories from me. But of course, that is not an option. So, I am going to have to settle for my best GLer friends. I yearn for the day when the two groups can become one. In any case, I had better get to the GM before I bore you all to tears.

Tonight I was talking to Maya over instant messenger, something we do from time to time, and something I would like to do much more often. I initiated the conversation under the pretense that I had just finished the book she gave me for Christmas. Truthfully, I had just finished the book, but I really just wanted to talk to her because of the holiday. I typically let her IM me first so that I can always fall back to a safe defensive position if anyone becomes uncomfortable with it. I know itÂ’s not fair to her, and itÂ’s probably sending her mixed signals, but in our society, I feel like it is the only safe thing for me to do. We talked for a while about the current goings-on in our lives, and I told her how much I loved the book. I mostly loved that she had gone through the trouble of picking it out for me. It was the first gift she has given me that has shown signs of intense thought behind it. ThatÂ’s not to say that she has been horribly inconsiderate in her previous gift giving, it is just that, from a nine year old, you are usually lucky to get a bag of socks, or a keychain, or something of that sort. Her mom said she spent more than an hour in the bookstore trying to pick out the perfect book. I was so touched by thatÂ… it is indescribable. Anyhow, that is neither here nor there, back to the GM.

I asked her how her valentineÂ’s day had been, and if she had done anything special today, or yesterday at school. I also asked her if she had given valentines to any of the cute boys at school. I actually was not aware of any boys at school whom she was interested in, as I hadnÂ’t found a good way to work it into a conversation until today (she transferred schools earlier this year). While I was bracing myself for the answer, and for the possibility of horrible jealousy, she informed me that actually had been ill yesterday and not been able to make it to school, but her mom gave her a rose and a box of candy this morning. I was a bit deflated by the vagueness in her answer about the boys at school, but I decided not to push the point. After that, she told me that she wanted to get me a gift for ValentineÂ’s Day, but she didnÂ’t have any money, and her mom wouldnÂ’t let her borrow any. That comment, in and of itself, would have made my ValentineÂ’s Day the best out of the last several years, but what came later blew it out of the water. Approximately fifteen minutes later, after I had made a somewhat dorky comment, we had the following conversation:

[EDIT - Sorry, I know this was important to you and you're excited about it, but it's simply not appropriate to post an IM conversation you had with a little girl here at GC. So, it doesn't ruin the post, the girl asks Captain to be his valentine and he said yes. Feel free to be very furious with me Captain, but you should not have posted the conversation word for word. You could have simply described it. Kero]

There was more conversation after that, but you have the high point of it. Let me note that, in the context of our relationship, the people in our family wouldn’t be distressed by this conversation. For the most part they know that Maya and I adore one another, and they think it is cute how much she has taken to me. For the most part, they consider it to be a funny joke… and may God bar them from ever taking things seriously. I know they wouldn't accept it. I feel that I am comfortably in the safety zone for now, and it should stay that way for the foreseeable future. I know Maya takes it seriously, and I think she may have an inkling that I do as well. It’s amazing how able mankind is in talking around complicated issues. I hope (though I seriously doubt) that we will get out “happily ever after”. Thanks everyone, I think that’s all for now.

~The Captain~