During Lent this year, I am using the Rethink Church prompts to do a daily photo practice, and with each photo I also post some thoughts. Yesterday’s prompt was “Walk,” and when I started writing it, I went on and on and couldn’t stop. I ended up deleting most of what I had written, but the process got me thinking about so many walks in my life, so many walking partners, so many conversations during walks. And one of the most memorable was a walk I didn’t take.
In college, a boy asked me to go for a walk with him. I said yes, but then there was an ice storm. I grew up in the tropics, so I’d never seen an ice storm before. I didn’t even know such a thing was a possibility in the weather roster. I’d seen hail many times, one year even on Christmas Day, leading inevitably to everyone calling it a white Christmas. But the idea of the whole landscape being encased in ice was new to me.
Instead of going on the walk, then, we went to a bookstore. The ice must not have been covering everything, because we got in a car and drove there, and it wasn’t a treacherous drive, at least not that I recall. This non-walk bookstore trip took place thirty-four years ago this month, so I couldn’t be absolutely sure.
I still remember elements of the conversation we had that day, that boy and I. He told me about how chocolate was made, for example, and the conching process. We talked about the countries where we had grown up, 7000 miles apart. I think he told me about his grandmother. We talked about books we’d read. We were taking a class together, and I’m sure we talked about that.
It was a conversation we started that day and have continued until this day. Because, yes, Reader, I married him, two and a half years and many ups and downs after that first date.
We have walked hundreds of miles together since that day, many of them in beautiful places. But that non-walk first date started it all.
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7 comments:
Your walking story warmed my heart because my husband and I also walked on most all of our college dates...and we are still walking, years later! Thank you for that memory! :)
I love this little slice about your first date. From the beginning you each fascinated each other. Long love begins with friendship.
Love this post and how a moment led to a life. You captured the scene and the conversation!
Such a beautiful post about your first walk together! You captured the mood of that date with great details.
♥️
I feel like your successful misadventure illustrates marriage. I just knew you had to marry him! Like you said there are so many ups and downs, but for many of us it's a real gift to have a walking partner.
What an excellent story! And I love that he talked about how chocolate is made. Whether or not you like chocolate, I think such an unusual choice of things to discuss would make this boy's specialness stand out. <3
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