Drum Roll, Please...

A little while back I had this idea to put a poll on the sidebar and then give the answer in a later post, well, this is the "later post," the post with the answer to my first poll! For those of you dying to know what Kedar and I did on our second date, your wait is over; today is the day of the big "reveal"!

When Kedar came to get me for our second date he told me that he was going to teach me to make a bonsai tree. Immediately, Karate Kid came to mind. Mr. Miyagi with his minuscule scissors, hunched over a tiny tree, cutting at the tree in quick snips but not making any obvious progress. "Um, okay," I must have said.

We went to a nursery and perused every juniper plant they had. They looked like shapeless shrubs to me but Kedar saw something else: potential. He carefully inspected every branch, studying their natural curve, and looking for imperfections. By the time we found the perfect plant both of our stomachs were growling.

We drove over to the mall that was next door and decided to get some food from the food court to take with us to the park for a picnic. We got our food and were headed out of the mall when we passed a jewelry store. Kedar looked at me and smiled a mischievous smile. "What?" I asked. "Just play along," was his response.

Kedar reached for my hand and laced his fingers through mine. I was so surprised by this gesture that, at first, I didn't realize where he was leading me. When I regained my senses enough to notice that we were heading through the doorway to the jewelry store, I put on the brakes. "What are we doing?" I whispered urgently. He casually put his arm around my waist and led me toward the glass display cases.

The sales person greeted us politely and asked if we were looking for something specific. I listened in stunned silence as Kedar smoothly explained that we had recently gotten engaged and were looking for an engagement ring. We were invited to sit on one of the red velvet benches that were placed strategically throughout the store. My hands shook as I took the shiny rings that the sales person offered me. I was urged to try them on and give my opinion. At one point, I dropped one of the rings on the carpet.

Years later, when I asked Kedar why he had taken me to the jewelry store he smiled and said, "I just wanted an excuse to hold your hand."

We left the mall and went to the park. While Kedar explained how to prune the plant to accentuate the natural lines that were already there an annoying fly was buzzing near our faces. Kedar stopped what he was doing and held perfectly still. I stopped too and looked at him, curious. I watched as his hand jumped up and he caught the fly out of the air. I stared at him in amazement. Again, visions of Mr. Miyagi were dancing through my head.

We continued shaping the tree, shortly we noticed that we had an audience. Across the lawn was a seagull who was carefully edging closer to us. Our food-court-leftovers were too much to resist. Kedar watched the seagull while I worked on the bonsai for awhile. When the scheming bird was about 5 feet away, he whispered quietly, barely moving his lips, "Do you think I can catch that seagull?"

I looked at the bird thoughtfully. "Probably not," I whispered back with a smile. I was trying to sound confident in my answer but, after all, I had just watched him catch a fly.

"If I do, will you make dinner for our next date?" was his next question.

"Our next date..." I let my statement trail off momentarily.

"OK," I finally finished, "I'll make dinner for our next date, if you can catch that seagull."

Kedar chased the seagull around the park for a few minutes until the bird decided that the risk in sticking around for our food was too great. It flew away while Kedar tried to catch his breath from the chase and I tried to catch my breath from laughing.

So, there you have it, the correct answer is e) all of the above.