I met Carol White on April 14, 1989. It very nearly didn't happen.
I was dating a couple other girls around the time (Hello, Stephanie and Amber) and had a full calendar, including working weekends and getting to school. I was a 17 year-old senior at St. John's in DC. I had a crappy red VW Beetle. But life was good.
My friends from Glenelg HS were all planning a big prom shindig that year, and they wanted to find me a date so I could go. My best pal, since Kindergarten, was John Harrison. He knew this girl, he said, who needed a date for prom. Why not meet her ahead of time, see if we were OK with each other, and perhaps be prom dates.
I recall being sick on my couch with fever, watching baseball. John brought a collection of photographs and yearbooks to my house and pitched the deal. In my febrile state I figured why not. This gal wasn't bad-looking. Where's the harm?
So I show up at the Mt. Airy Pizza Hut (still there) ready to be OK with this. I almost didn't go, I'd been working at a farm all day and was dog-tired. I think I'd been forced to listen to one of the aforementioned ladies complain (not positive on that). I think I was hoping to just get through this and go home to sleep.
She rolled up in a huge Chevy Caprice. Nice. Her hair was long and she was waaay prettier than the pictures I'd seen. Plus, added bonus, she was sporting a Batman shirt. Way cool.
I guess there were a ton of guys in my pal Chad's Mustang, and not enough space. Carol offered to drive. On a whim, I hopped in her car. We were alone, together. Ostensibly, we were to meet up with the group at the movies and see....I have no idea what.
Carol and I started talking. I don't think we stopped, since.
Plus, she got lost on the way to the theater (where she worked). She likes to say she simply missed her exit. I like to say she got lost on purpose. The facts aren't really that important, though, are they?
We got to the theater late, but I don't think either of us minded. Since she worked there, we got in for free and walked in about 1/2 way through the tremendous motion picture "Major League." I don't recall much of the film, but I recall us holding hands in the movie - which was a first for me on a first date. Later on, well....it was all very unexpected and amazing.
That was it. The year of 1989 was magic. I'd met someone like no one else I'd known. She was bright, expressive, sweet, passionate....everything I'd wanted. Prom was great. Summer was great. Then we left for college.
Well, no good thing lasts. Every wave has it's end...you ride it for as long as you can but it runs out of strength once you ride it long enough. The real question is: do you stay in the water?
It's 21 years later and we're still here and together and things are good. Over 21 years, things happen that are good and bad. You either survive those and are stronger for it or you whither on the vine and die as a result. Both of us have made grievous mistakes and courageous accomplishments. I can't separate the two; there are scars and there are blemishes. Yet, at the end of every day, I thank God for getting me off my butt and driving to that Pizza Hut, where I truly fell in love for the first time in my life.
I can kinda sum it up thus:
"When there's nothing left to say
And all the clouds/ have faded away
And my mind wanders out there across the bay
Just to be there/in the morning/with the sun comin' through the trees
Well you know, there's just no place I'd rather be..."
From "Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day" by Frank Black
We still talk. Incessantly. And are still very much in love. I love you, Carol White.
No comments:
Post a Comment