text: Buoyed by the principles plus precepts learnt from watching a few YouTube videos on skiing well and without fear as a novice, I set off down the snowy slope with a significant sense of déjà vu! This euphoric feeling was as indescribable as it was enjoyable. This wind at my back turned to temporal dysphoria as I crashed into someone while seeking to employ a wedge stop technique practiced a few times after watching the how-tos. A more experienced skier auspiciously came to the rescue of my "victim" as I steadily moved to a safe spot. Basking in the euphoria of fully skiing for the very first time made me forgetful about avoiding an accident... The person I crashed into and the rescuer continued down the hill after slowing down to confirm I was okay. I muttered a rapid prayer of Thanksgiving to God for safety. With this done, I was back in high spirits ready to continue with increased care and competence. I sure wasn't ready to give up! The more daunting the task, the more daring I can be. This disposition describes me since attempting to date a dancer I met while on duty in a departmental store where I briefly worked. Her velvety voice saying "Excuse me sir, do you work here by any chance?" as she sought out a particular product principally "pulled" me to her as I thought "this lady must be 'mine' if she's not already hooked up with anyone!" Her svelte silhouette surely sealed my stance as I blurted out "are you married or in any serious relationship with any man?" Flabbergasted and flushed, she fumbled for words to say without being overly brutish or brutalizing my ego... ... flustered but not feeling foolish, I found the courage to correct course by saying "Yes, I work here but I'm very honoured to have been blessed with the chance of meeting you. Would you please forgive my being rash even though I'm truly interested in knowing you?" The fury on her face faded into a smile that made me further think "this woman and I sure need to become close friends". She then responded by saying "it's okay as I see that you are not the highly insensitive and incongruous individual I initially thought you were...; but I must say you're intrepid!" "intre..what?" I replied. "You're interestingly fearless and forthrightly bold", she said as we both burst out laughing. Then I introduced myself and she reciprocated. She was in search of silver coloured swimsuits she could adapt as costume for the next dance presentation of her troupe. On showing her the pertinent section of the store, I proposed two complementary colours - light purple and light blue - to her. She accepted my propositions and profusely thanked me as I escorted her to the till area. As she joined the queue, I excused myself muttering "I'll be back in a jiffy." I dashed to pick up my stuff as my shift for the day was now over. But my section manager requested help to reset his computer and thus an unexpected quarter of an hour! On returning to the till, she was nowhere in sight but the cashier handed me a note tucked inside an envelope from her. Excited and curious but unwilling to show my disappointment mixed with anticipation, I calmly put the envelope in my knapsack and headed home, a few blocks away. On getting into my studio apartment, I quickly opened the envelope hoping to therein find her phone number and request to be called, but alas, it was not so. The little note in one of the loveliest handwriting ever sighted simply read: "Good things come to those who wait for and merit them. Sorry I could no longer wait as I have a plane to catch and billed to be back in six weeks after a tour with my team. I hope to answer your two-in-one question on my return if the wait turns out to be worthwhile for us both. Meeting you was a memorable encounter. Thank you once again and take care. - Your 'yet-to-be' friend." "Six weeks!? I'm scheduled to also leave town in two weeks as my sojourn at the departmental store comes to an end in a week!" I thought to myself. That was six months ago. Now in Switzerland for a sixteen-week writing project, I came in three days ago, a week before the expected commencement of this plum job. This is in order to take advantage of a stay offered to me in a resort owned by the parents of a Swiss friend I met three years ago at a writing conference. It also affords me the opportunity to enjoy a dream activity - skiing. The following morning, on the way to a breakfast of rösti, raclette and lamb in one of the restaurants, the chit-chat of a motley crew could be heard behind me... Suddenly, a particular voice stopped me in my tracks as my heart skipped a beat and I trembled with unbelief. "Was I finally going to see her again? Is that not the velvety voice I've been longing to hear for the past half-year?" Turning back, her instant recognition of me was a welcome validation. "Oh my goodness, we finally meet again!", she said, as she rushed towards me and beaming, I instinctively threw my hands wide open for her to crash into. We struggled to outdo each other in playing catch up. It seemed so serene and sensible to be together. With breakfast and others around us immediately put on hold, hand in hand, we gravitated towards a nearby face to face bench and settled in. She looked so beautiful I wished I could watch her all day that day and every other day! All anxieties about what to say if we ever met again had disappeared into thin air. She regaled me with stories of how, on her return from the tour, she had gone back to the departmental store many times every week for six weeks to look for me (or get information that could reconnect her with me) before giving up. For an inexplicable reason, I had brought her note with me on this trip. More curious was the fact that I read it just before leaving my room and ended up putting it in my shirt pocket. Reaching therefore into my pocket, I brought it out and I could see her liven up even more as she gasped in surprise. "Oh là là, you still have the note with you. When I couldn't find you, I wished I had left my contact details in it", she said. On flipping open the note and putting it sideways for it to be readable, we chorused the first sentence: "Good things come to those who wait for and merit them."