A gift close to my heart

As I mentioned in my last post, Bear didn't just confess his love to me that night. He had a lot to say that evening, and one of the things he said was that I had brought something inside of him back to life. I tried to convince him that I hadn't done anything special, but he was adamant. I shrugged and said, "You're wecome?" I didn't know what else to say. He looked at me for a moment (and kissed me some more... we do a LOT of that), then he went into the living room. When I asked him what he was doing, he came back out with something clutched in his hands.
He said that I didn't just bring him back to life. His nick name growing up had always been Bear - big, grumpy, fiercely protective. He said that since his mom died, he hadn't felt that the name applied to him. Since meeting me, the Bear in him was back - and it was all my doing. He opened his hand. In it was a pewter bear charm on a silver chain. "My mom gave me this charm, and I'm giving it to you - because you brought back the Bear in me."

HOW SWEET IS THAT?!

I wear the necklace every day now, under my shirt and against my skin. It makes me think of him throughout the day. I feel both empowered and humbled by what the bear charm symbolizes. Empowered because I was the girl to do something that no other girl was able to, and humbled by the fact that I had such an affect on someone in so short a time.

But then, much of our relationship has happened fast. When he told me he loved me, he also told me that he knows that I am the girl for him - period. That he is mine forever, and he will want to be with me forever. I was a little disbelieving at first (how can you know that after only five weeks?), but I am beginning to realize that Bear is exactly what he seems to be - a one-woman man who loves totally and completely. He really means it when he says that I am the woman he will love for the rest of his life.

That was probably why we started talking marraige a couple of days later.


(More on that next time!)