Heroes in my world: Ricky Potts

Did you think I forgot about this series?  Or about my blog in general, for that matter?  Sometimes there are things that I would like to blog about but the actual act of sitting down and writing out my thoughts in a coherent manner just feels too overwhelming.  Or, maybe I’m just lazy.  Anyway, here’s my next hero (and they are in no particular order, FYI).

Ricky (aka rickyleepotts) is my boyfriend, most of you are probably aware of that.  Some of you may not know him.  Some of you may not care for him.  But yeah, he is definitely a hero in my world, and here’s why.

Ricky came into my life at an interesting time.  I had just started a new job, and was going through some things in different relationships that left me open to new ones, and wanting to ring in the beginning of 2009 somewhere new and different.  Ricky and I met between Christmas and New Year’s, and he was open to plans for New Year’s as well.  We ended up ringing in the New Year together (which is an interesting and crazy story in and of itself), and have been dating ever since.

Ricky’s not quite like anyone I’ve ever met before.  I don’t always see eye to eye with him on everything, but one thing that I think is great about him is exactly how real he is.  He’s probably one of the most real people that I know.  And what I mean by that is… well, I can think of relationships I’ve had where I spent a lot of time wondering what the other person was thinking, because I really had no idea.  Some people are just not great at conveying much about themselves sometimes.  Ricky is the complete opposite of that.  I never have to guess what he’s thinking – he will be the first to let me know.  I think more of us need to be like that, and I certainly wish I was sometimes.  It’s refreshing to know someone that is honest about how they feel and what they are thinking.  There’s a degree of authenticity there that’s hard to find.  Some people that know him might think Ricky’s too opinionated, but my thought is that everyone has an opinion… how many of us are just too afraid to share it?

Another thing I love about Ricky is how passionate he is.  When he gets an idea in his head that he is interested in, he really goes after it.  I see people sit around and think of things they want to do for years, yet never end up doing them.  They don’t make the phone call or take the steps or whatever to accomplish what they really want.  That’s not Ricky at all.  Once he figures out what he wants (just don’t put a restaurant menu in front of him, or that may not happen), he goes after it.  He takes the steps to make it happen, and is usually successful.  I’ve gotten some nice perks (get your mind out of the gutter!) over the last year because he just knows how to make things happen.

Ok, I know you’ve been waiting for it… here’s where I get sorta gushy.  Probably the thing I like most about Ricky is how he knows how to deal with me.  Nobody’s perfect, everybody has their bad days… and on the days I’m sad, even though he doesn’t understand, he lets me know he loves me.  On the days I’m mad, if it’s at him, he tries to figure out what he’s done wrong and how to help.  I’m not perfect, but I’m very hard on myself, and thus sometimes hard on those closest to me, so you can bet he has to deal with a lot of that.  And he handles it probably about as well as anyone could.  I can’t imagine feeling much more helpless than dealing with someone who has just lost an immediate family member.  And he’s been there for me through all of that.

To my sweetie… thank you for loving me and for all the things I learn from and admire in you every day. <3