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After all that she’d been dealing with, it was clear she could stand to have some fun.
“Okay, let’s grab some tubes,” I told her.
Once the two of us had picked up our tubes and had stepped onto the magic carpet that would take us to the top, where we’d ultimately ride down from, Ellery beamed at me. The look on her face was breathtaking, and I found myself struggling not to react the way I wanted to. Instead, I asked, “What’s that look for?”
“I’m so excited to do this,” she replied. “But I have to admit I’m a little bit nervous, because I’ve never been snowtubing before. I always thought it looked fun, though.”
It was something so simple, and she was bursting with excitement. I loved that I was going to be the one to give this to her. “It’s a lot of fun. I think you’ll like it.”
Ellery looked out at the mountain and watched as other people rode down in their tubes. “I hope I don’t make a fool of myself and do something silly like fall out of my tube,” she stated.
“You won’t fall out,” I promised her. “Just hold on and have fun. You’ll be fine.”
“Okay. But do you promise not to laugh if I happen to fall out?” she asked.
I reached out for her hand, gave it a squeeze, and insisted, “Not only will I not laugh at you, but I’ll purposely fall out as well, so you aren’t alone.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
“You would do that for me?” she pressed.
“Why would I care?” I countered.
Ellery’s beautiful lips parted as a look of bewilderment washed over her. “I’ve never met anyone like you in my whole life,” she rasped.
It was the simplest thing that I could do to make her feel a little less anxiety over what we were about to do, and she made it seem like I was handing her the whole world. “It’s just snowtubing. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Maybe not to you, but it is to me,” she said.
Before I could respond, we’d made it to the top. I stepped off and held out my hand to make sure she didn’t trip when she stepped off. I didn’t know how she felt about it, but I continued to hold her hand as I led her over to where we’d get in line to go down the hill.
As much as I wanted this to be a day of fun for Ellery, I wanted it to be something just as meaningful for myself.
Being with her, I wasn’t sure there was any way it wouldn’t be exactly that, but I figured there was no harm in doing a little extra to make it that much more special.
When there was only one more person in front of us, I couldn’t miss the way Ellery’s hand squeezed mine a little bit tighter. She really was a little anxious about this, but it felt good to know that she was comfortable enough with me to communicate it in the way that she did. Apparently, holding her hand and not letting it go had been the right thing to do.
“Ready?” I asked when it was her turn.
She nodded at me with a big, bright smile on her face.
“I’ll be in the lane right next to yours,” I told her. “Just remember to hold on tight.”
“I will.”
With that, Ellery and I each went to our respective lanes. We both got ourselves situated in our tubes, and I immediately drew my attention to her. The next thing I knew, I was watching in amazement as the utter delight washed over Ellery’s face while we rode down the hill.
She initially let out a scream, much like I’d expect to hear on a roller coaster. No more than two seconds later, she was laughing.
And while I’d seen her smile and even let out a soft chuckle, I hadn’t seen her laugh the way she was laughing now. Her whole face was lit up. It was incredible to see the joy simply radiating off of her.
We finally made it to the bottom, and Ellery came bounding over to me.
“See? I told you that you weren’t going to fall out.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun before in all my life,” she bubbled. “Can we do it again, please?”
