:Brave:

My name is Sam, and as I've said before, I may *sometimes* have a hard time working up the courage to say the things that need to be said.

The above could literally be true of me, were I to actually have a crush that I was interested in calling up to ask out on a date.

Of course, once upon a time, I did. Have a crush, that is. And yes, I had to work up the courage to tell her I liked her (which is a story I've already told here)... And I may have had to work up the courage for a couple other things, as well.

Like actually starting to date her. You see, once I had told (my now wife) that I liked her, I left the conversation at that. We went back to the coffee shop, and played a game of cards with a friend.

It was the week after by the time I finally realized that I should probably do something about this newfound affirmation that she liked me as well. So there ensued another (this time not quite so painfully cold or drawn-out) conversation on the subject of "now what?" (It took me some time to work up the guts to suggest anything).

But that wasn't the last time it took me a while to muster up the gumption to actually say or do something important.

Like the first time I held hands with my wife. We had been dating for a little while, and I was nervous somehow that I would still scare her off. We went on several walks a week, just to talk and get off campus and hang out for a while. On one of these walks, it took me almost an hour (the end of our walk) to finally just reach over and grab her hand. Apparently, I didn't scare her off!

Or the time I finally decided to tell her I loved her for the first time. I may have fumbled through this conversation even more so than the first one when I told her I liked her. And by "May have", I mean I definitely did. Even when I finally "got up the courage", what came out was: "Uh, so I think I....uh....might uh....know.....this guy....um...who kinda...well,...he might just...love you"

Ouch.

Yup, that's me. The king of romantic speech.

Which is funny, because I'm usually pretty good with my words. I guess it's just tough when it holds so much weight.

I mean, I still remember the first (and close to only) time (while still living at home) that I ever called my parents to task on something. It scared the spit out of me. And it took me forever to work up the courage to do. Not because my parents are scary people (or my wife, either, for that matter...)... But just because I have a tough time with this stuff.

Thankfully, I DID have the courage to tell my crush I liked her...and ask her out on a date... And hold her hand... And tell her I loved her... And ask her to marry me (which actually seemed easier at the time than the first few steps had seemed)...and here we are, 5 1/2 years later.

Now it's just a matter of working up the courage to ask someone to babysit our kids so we can have an evening alone from time to time... :-)

My name is Sam, and as I've said before, I may *sometimes* have a hard time working up the courage to say the things that need to be said.