So that summer, the summer of 2005, I came home for a few weeks to visit my parents before I started taking summer classes at Walla Walla. Jimmy was there and I was there and there’s not many people I’m friends with my age in my hometown so we decided that we would get together and go see a movie or something. My sister went with us to a movie… I still wasn’t considering Jimmy as a possible romantic investment, he was SOOOO far out of my league after all. But we had a good time. In the parking lot after the movie we all said that we had a good time and we should do it again, blah blah, but the Erin piped up and said that she was going out of town to visit some friends in Southern California. I got suddenly embarrassed. I realized, Jimmy might think that I wanted a DATE with him… and he would get all embarrassed too and have to tell me he wasn’t interested and then things would get all unnecessarily complicated etc etc… So we ducked out and went home.
I didn’t think too much about it until later when Jimmy called to ask if we were still planning to get together. And for the first time I began to have a glimmer of hope that he might actually LIKE me! So we went out to dinner at a nice Chinese place in town and then to the movie. But the movie hadn’t started yet so we contemplated what to do. It was raining, but we went for a walk anyway, all around the closed businesses near the theater that evening in the dark. We both got soaked, but it was so romantic, walking in the drizzle talking, feeling the sparks and the intensity and trepidation of the beginnings of a relationship.
From that point it seemed to move quickly. I knew from the beginning that he was it. If I could, I would marry this one. I had wondered and pondered for a few past boyfriends the uncertain question… is he the one? But with Jimmy I knew right away. If by some miracle he would have me, then I would marry him in an instant. I went back to Walla Walla and took my summer class. Jimmy and I talked on the phone every day, and some days we talked up to 8 and 10 hours at once. It seems so excessive to me now, but then it was necessary. That month I used up all the hours on my family’s plan, and all the rollover minutes our family had saved up since we had started the plan! Then, through a financial mix-up I ended up going to PUC instead of Walla Walla for my senior year of college. I was fine with that, I loved PUC as much as I loved Walla Walla and PUC had the added benefit of being in close proximity to Jimmy!
After dating 5 months, both Jimmy and I knew it was right. He made me a beautiful wooden box (that I still cherish) and gave it to me in October or November. Then we went to Hawaii with my family for Christmas. On Christmas Eve he took me up on a tall mountain in Hawaii that overlooked the city and the sea beyond. There he pulled out the box, which to my surprise, had a secret compartment where the ring was hidden, as well as a plaque that said, “Lindsey will you marry me?” And the happiest chapter of my life (my marriage to Jimmy… in case that wasn’t clear…) began.
2 comments:
I love walking in the rain. There is something so romantic about it. Maybe it's just because you are both so raw, standing there without all the glamor and glitz that we idolize in today's society.
I remember a time seeing you an Jimmy walking in the rain, holding hands and wearing smiles between Beechwood and Maplewood apartments. I thought how romantic. I felt embarrassed like I caught a secret moment (though you were in public).
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