That Time I Met Ryan Bradley...

You will NEVER GUESS what happened this week.

I was at the rink on Wednesday, as usual, for the 2-hour morning session. I had just finished my on-ice warm up, and was stroking around before starting in on Moves. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but.....

Two guys. A younger guy, and another who was a little bit older. I was curious, because there's never anyone new at this session, so who could it possibly be?

As I took another lap, I could see the younger guy's face. This little noise went off in my brain, like, "Hey. That's Ryan Bradley." I couldn't trust myself to be sure, though. I mean, Ryan Bradley? In NH? At this rink, of all places? Whhhuuuut?

I kept practicing while they put their skates on, and after awhile, went over to the boards for a drink of water. One of the coaches was like, "Gillian, have you ever met Doug?" Nodding to the guy with supposed-Ryan.

"No," I said, "But I've seen him here before."

"Well," she said, "he's here with Ryan Bradley today to choreograph for Stars on Ice."

And there we have it, confirmed! Of course, my first reaction was Whoo! Called it! Nailed it! I'm sooo good!

But then my reaction was WAIT A SECOND....You are skating on the same ice with Ryan Bradley. Ryan. Bradley. RYAN BRADLEY!

And this is where I pause my fascinating narrative, to make sure people actually know who Ryan Bradley is. If you already know, then GREAT! Please don't feel that I'm insulting your intelligence...it's just that none of the rink staff, none, knew who he was and that's just wrong. How can you not know that you have a NATIONAL CHAMPION in your midst?!

Sorry about the photo quality. I can't find a good one to save my life.

Because, yeah. Ryan Bradley's biggest thing is becoming the men's National Champion in 2011. I love the story of his journey, how some years he didn't even make it from sectionals, and then other years he won big. You can read more about him here, but suffice it to say that he's adorable, sweet, talented, and simply cool. He lands his quad jumps with ease, and did a lot more quads than other guys when he was competing. He's a fantastic entertainer, and really plays to the crowd when he skates.

Oh, did I mention he does backflips? Yeah. It's amazing. More on that later.

Suffice it to say, I was extremely distracted the entire practice (don't worry, I still worked hard....). After we got off, I of course ran over with my skating journal and asked for his autograph. Want to know how awkward I was? Of course you do:

ME: *awkwardly walk up*

RYAN: *awkwardly look up*

ME:*talking to choreographer* Hi, I'm Gillian. Just wanted to introduce myself.

CHOREOGRAPHER: Okay, you probably want to talk to him.

ME: Hi. You're gorgeous (don't worry, I actually said 'you're skating's gorgeous') My grandmother would die if she knew I met you.

RYAN: Well, we don't want that!

ME: Can I have your autograph?

RYAN: Sure! Here you go, sweetie.

ME: *silently dies inside*

And the rest of the day, it was all my family heard about. And I was in an abundantly good mood. And I looked like this:

But wait, there's more!

He was there on Friday, too.

He.

Was.

There.

ON FRIDAY!

As was my friend, so of course there was lots of teasing and giggling the entire time. The best part? He did a backflip right next to us. My friend's back was to him, though, so when he landed it with a big CLAP she jumped six feet in the air, not even kidding.

She jumped so high, she probably could have done one of his quads, right then and there.

She told him that, later. And he laughed and smiled and walked away as quickly as he could. Then we commenced planning my figure skater wedding. We're doing a pairs skating routine instead of simply walking up the isle, obviously. It will be amazing. You're all invited.

So yeah, it was a pretty good week. :D

Please fangirl with me!