More About My Boy

I was 16 years old when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go catch the movie Patch Adams with a group of people. I agreed to go and later that day he picked me up in a mammoth of a van. He opened the side sliding door for me and there was some guy spinning around in one of the captain's seats inside. He stopped at once, looking at me in surprise. I got in the van and sat in the other captain's seat and told him my name. "I know," he replied mysteriously. I really liked him, but another girl in the group obviously was interested in him and wanted him to know it. So, I backed off. I only saw him a few times that year. But, during the summer, he and I both showed up to a little festival the tiny town we lived in was holding. We talked and talked. We had a lot in common and he was so charming. I noticed how handsome he was. His light brown hair curled playfully around his forehead; his eyes that I had assumed brown, were, in reality, a rich amber-gold rimmed with a mist of green. His smile was so genuine. I bought him lunch and later gave him a ride home. As I turned the key and reached for the steering wheel, I realized just how hot the day had been. I tried to turn the car around by searing only my fingertips against the wheel. I looked down to see a masculine hand grasp the wheel and hold it for me, bearing the burn with a grin. I blushed slightly and thanked him for being thoughtful. I wasn't used to guys caring like that. He invited me out to a comedy club that night, but I had promised to be a youth supervisor for the city 's youth dance that night. I told him I would like to do something sometime, though. I figured I'd blown it. I got to the dance that night a little disappointed that I couldn't have gone out with him. To my surprise, I was suddenly seized around the waist and lifted into the air in a whirl and planted back where I’d been standing within seconds. I dizzily looked around to find out who would possibly hug me with such excitement. To my astonishment, it was that same nice guy from that afternoon. He asked me if I'd go for a walk with him, so we left the tennis courts the dance was held in and walked around the park. We sat down on a picnic table. He was telling me about some girl he really liked. I tried to hide how annoyed I was to be the confidante. He went on, "She's smart and beautiful and funny... and she's sitting next to me on a picnic table." I can't believe it, but I actually looked down at the picnic table and thought, "That's me!" (He indulged a little with "smart.") And that kind of started everything. We dated until I got scared and broke up with him. We dated again later until he got scared and broke up with me (like 3 or 4 times, actually). But, we couldn't stay apart.
Later on, we found out that we'd been following each other around most of our lives. We were both born in Northern California and our families moved to Utah within a few years of each other to the same city. We attended the same preschool at the same time, he being just a year ahead of me. Around junior high our families each moved, mine to a small town south of where we were, his north to a bigger city . While he lived there, he shoveled snow for and frequently checked in on my great grandmother. (He actually knew her better than I did.) He later moved to the small town I was living in where he soon changed the way I looked at everything. And he's made me so happy. E.E. Cummings put it best, "[He] opened the eyes of my eyes." I hadn't believed in marriage or love - couples weren't happy, families weren't happy. I was going to be a big business executive in New York, wearing tasteful suits and being alone and happy that way. Well, he stepped on that dream. Now I can't remember what it's like not to be with him. He's amazing. Touching him is like reaching into another world. He has a magnitude and a power I've never seen before and will never see again. I can't believe God gave him to me. I am the luckiest.