With our 20th wedding anniversary coming up, I decided to write about our love story. Please join me in the upcoming days as I tell A Summer Camp Love Story.
Need to catch up? Part 1--Our Love Story Starts with: A List; Part 2--A Girl on the Boys' Side, and a Boy on the Girls' Side
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I don't want to give you the wrong impression. Even though Dawn and I were office girls on the boys' side of camp, there were very strict boundaries. Yes, we interacted with cute shirtless guys all day long. But, camp had very strict rules we followed. Obviously, camp had to be careful with the kind of girl they put in that position. Neither Dawn nor I were overly-flirty girls, and we were also rule-following kind of girls.
That's not to say we didn't thoroughly enjoy the location of our office, or the interaction with all the guys. But, we did understand that we were there to do our jobs, and do them well.
So, how does a girl fall in love with a guy across a tall front countertop, in brief snatches of time?
Well, for starters, a shy, non-flirty girl who adopted the popular mantra "Carpe Diem," might speak up, when normally she would have remained quiet. She probably smiled and looked into a cute guy's blue eyes, when normally she may have avoided embarassing eye contact.
And, after her evening shift, when she arrived very late to the staff Country Western dance, she may have said "yes" to the handsome blue-eyed cowboy who asked her to dance.
Oh, yes. This romance may have started with a list, and a first hug. But, it was sealed with a two-steppin' dance.
I'll never forget seeing Dave walk towards me that night. He wore jeans and a white and blue long-sleeve shirt, sleeves rolled up his tanned arms. And boots. That boy stole my heart when I saw his tan roper boots. Or maybe it was his strikingly blue eyes, that matched the blue of his shirt. Either way, I was a goner.
He was the first guy to ask me to dance that night. And the only guy I danced with after that. I'll never forget how nervous I was. I'd only just learned how to Western dance--how to Two-Step, and here I was with a cute guy wrapping his arms around my waist, the music starting.
As soon as the music started, I stopped being nervous. I was lost in the moment. The music, the blue eyes, the boyish grin, his hand at my waist leading me around the dance floor of the K-Kountry tennis court. I know there were lots of others dancing beside us and around us in the evening air. But, all I remember of that whole night was the dance with Dave, my cowboy in boots.
We were too lost in the moment at the time, to realize that our dance was to be our fate, our promise. As our feet shuffled one-two--one; one-two--one, Randy Travis' voice sang into the warm night air...
"I'm gonna love you, forever and ever,
Forever and ever, amen...."
To be continued...
