2/13/2014

The beginning.

Mama’s Losin’ It

A blog post inspired by the word: love





When I first noticed him, I disliked him on sight.

He seemed kind of snobby. Disinterested in the Literature class we shared.  He sort of acted like he thought he might be too good to be there. He wore ties to class, for goodness sake. I mean, who does that? 

After my initial assessment, I didn't really pay much attention to him. After all, it was college and I was there to LEARN.

It was a small class, though, and after a few weeks we were chatting occasionally, casually, like you do. The semester passed in a flurry, like first semesters at college are prone to do, and I didn't really spare much of a passing though for this guy who was maybe not as horrible as I first thought, but who was really just not my type.

And then it was the next semester. 

And he was in my first class. 

And my second.

And my third.

I found out much later that he had bugged a mutual friend who had finally broken down and given him my class schedule, then he switched all his classes around to get into as many of mine as possible even though we had totally different majors and he didn't really need the credits for those classes. 

Creeper.

But I guess it worked. 

We became friends. We shared notes and studied together occasionally.  I would proofread his papers.  We walked to class together sometimes.  He wasn't as stuck up as I had originally thought, but other than our shared classes we just didn't have much in common. 

One day in the middle of class the back popped off my Mickey Mouse watch. I had been having trouble with it, but in this particular day I could not get it fastened back on. I turned around and whispered to him, "Can you fix this?" 

He took it from me and I didn't think much about it again until class was over. "Hey, did you get my watch fixed?" I asked him as we were gathering up our books and papers and notes to leave.  Instead of answering, he have me a strange look and took off RUNNING. 

"What an absolute weirdo," I thought. Also? I was pissed because he had just stolen my favorite Mickey Mouse watch.

He showed up in my dorm late - LATE - that night, and sheepishly handed me a jewelry store bag from a store that was in a city over an hour away.  When I looked inside it, there was a brand new watch exactly like mine. Also in the bag were all the pieces and parts of my old watch, which he had apparently shattered into a million pieces when he was trying to get the back on it for me earlier in the day.

I asked a lot of questions about what had happened, and I finally pieced the story together.  He had borrowed a car and driven to a local jeweler, who told him my broken watch was absolutely, positively not repairable, and not only that, it was several years old and a discontinued model.

So he spent the rest of the afternoon on the phone calling every watch store, department store and jewelry store in town, then in the next city over, and the one after that until he found someone who had a watch exactly like mine, then he drove three hours round trip to get it for me. 

That's when I knew. 

What I felt then wasn't love - that would take time to grow - but I knew then that this guy was worth really getting to know.  And he was.

That was over 20 years ago. 

We have had our fair share of ups and downs and downs and ups.  We've got a mortgage and two kids and enough fish to start a pet store.  We argue. We make up.  We do it again.  Neither one of us is perfect.  We've shared joy and loss and heartache and fun.  We drive each other insane sometimes, in the way only people who have been together for as long as we have can, but it's all so terribly worth it.

I still have that watch that he broke into a million pieces that day.  It's more important to me than shiny jewels, fancy cars, or big houses could ever be, because that tiny little broken thing was the true beginning of something bigger.  Something greater.  Something lasting.  Something forever.  Something completely and totally whole.




16 comments:

  1. The "That was twenty years ago," line took my breath away. What a great story!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Such a lovely story ! Happy Valentines Day :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. That story's just too sweet for words. What a beginning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my goodness. What an awesome story! LOVE.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much! Sometimes it still takes my breath away too :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for your comment. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you! It's important to remind myself sometimes where we started, because it helps me remember why we're going the way we are, if that makes any sense at all. Happy Valentine's Day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you! I've read so many good love stories the last few days, but mine will always be my favorite :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a fun beginning! thanks for stopping by.
    kelley at the road goes ever ever on

    ReplyDelete
  10. I can't believe he tracked down a replacement. So incredibly sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love hearing about how people meet. What a sweet story!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I guess his perseverance paid off. After all, he got me ;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks! Someday I hope to show my grandkids my broken watch and tell them my story.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love those stories, too. So many times I just say "we met in college" or something similar but there's always so much more to the story, isn't there?

    ReplyDelete

Pin It button on image hover