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; Part 3--A Dance...with a Promise; Part 4--Questions, Goodies, and Boat Rides; Part 5--One Fateful Boat Ride; Part 6--Waiting on our First Date to Happen; Part 7--Who's Sammy Lane?
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One of my favorite parts of this story, is that I can pinpoint the exact moment when I knew Dave felt the same about me as I felt about him.
And it was a moment when no words were even exchanged...
Dave needed to leave camp for a few days to be a groomsman for one of his closest friends. He needed someone to drive him the hour to and from the airport--and guess who was assigned to that task? One very lucky office girl, that's who!
Of course, on the way there, Dave drove us, old fashioned guy that he is. Again, as we seemed to do every time we were together, we talked and talked the whole way there. I still had so many questions I wanted to ask him. As we got closer to the airport, Dave said he needed to make a quick detour. He pulled into a little strip shopping center, and said he needed to run in, but that he wouldn't be long.
There were several stores there, and I have no idea why I didn't notice which one he entered. But, I sat for what seemed like a long time. At one point I wondered what I should do--because I had no idea what store he was in, and it felt like 10-15 minutes had passed. I was worried he would miss his flight. And remember--no cell phones back then to check on him.
(Ha!! That paragraph right there could be a blueprint for our whole marriage! Dave needing to make a surprise stop somewhere--the boy loves surprises. And MK worrying about being late--because the girl does love to worry.)
Finally! I saw someone walking toward our car. But, oh my goodness, that someone was carrying a huge arm bouquet of the most beautiful long-stemmed pink roses I had ever seen!
Dave opened my car door, and with a big grin on his face, placed the dozen roses in my arms. I am SURE I was speechless for a moment, and I am SURE my face turned bright red.
It was that instant, that I knew. I knew Dave felt the same about me as I did him. And I knew this was more than a couple of creative nights off together. This was for real.
As Dave jumped out at the airport--with only minutes to spare--he told me that he'd like to call me while he was away...and especially since he "needed to tell me" the details about his return flight. Since I was an office girl, and lived in an office girl cabin, lucky for me--we answered the phones at night. So, of course, when Dave called later that night, I was right there to answer!
I remember looking across the cabin at my roses while I talked to Dave on the phone. Surely, he could hear my big smile as we talked. His voice sounded excited on the other end of the phone, and even though I was sure he was really busy with wedding activities, I could tell he really wanted to talk to me on the phone. Like talking on the phone with me was his most important task of the day.
That kind of attention made me feel more special than I had felt in a really long time. I couldn't wait to pick him up at the airport in two days!
Ah, and the ride back from the airport was even better...
To be continued...
Image credit: Flickr Satheesh k
