Falling in love. I've only done it once, but I can tell you: it's confusing, crazy, scary, amazing, and mystifying all at once. Love is weird and intense but so, so worth it. This is the story of when I fell in love, the exact moment that I did.

I remember the moment very, very clearly.

Adrenaline slipped slowly through my veins, leftover from the stress of getting lost. My hands shook as I pushed open the door and wandered gently until I found the rink I was looking for. Pushing open the heavy metal door, I was hit with a blast of icy, sweat-smelling air. Instantly I was freezing (I’m new to this whole hockey thing, I underdressed, cut me a break). My lashes blinked, frozen with mascara and thick black liner as I shuffled my way over to the edge of the glass. Leaning in, Doc Martens stuck tight together, I searched for him. Numbers floated around in the back of my mind, misty memories of sweet conversations passed.

My eyes scanned as my body shivered. I felt out of place, a tiny bit terrified, a tiny bit self-conscious. The scrape of a blade drew my attention far to my left, where players were climbing on and off of the ice, the clacking of the skates against the wall echoing throughout the rink. Mustering my courage, I averted my eyes from the stands and marched as far to the left as I could go, and pressed myself against the glass. Breath fogging, fingers frozen, my eyes happened to glance up to the players across the way.

That’s when I realized that I had no idea which jersey went with which team. Finally, a number plastered itself onto my brain. Twelve, that’s what he told me. A whistle blew, blades scraped, he moved so fast that I almost missed him when I blinked. Number twelve. Time froze around me, more solid than the ice. Everything and everyone slowed and all I could see was him. Suddenly everything about him was familiar: dark red gloves, blue helmet, and most especially his tousled carrot hair. It's him. It was then, that precise, exactly millisecond, that I fell in love.

There was no denying- my anxieties, my doubts, my fears… they dissolved like grooves under a zamboni. My mouth mirrored his; his hung open from exertion, mine shock. It was like a star had burst inside me, filling me with a glow in every last corner. Finally I knew what real love felt like, what it did to you. Every moment we had spent together prior was the uphill climb of a roller coaster, and now we had finally reached the glorious top. And so began the thrilling descent.