Da Goddess

Mrs. Who and I started emailing about romantic gestures and I thought, hmmm, perhaps I should blog this. So, here it is: the single most romantic moment in my life.

I was kind of seeing this guy (it wasn’t very serious as we were both seeing other people) and one night I was out, supposedly meeting someone for a blind date. The blind date guy didn’t show and I was debating whether or to just go home or stay at this place and have a drink or maybe even have something to eat. The host at the restaurant was entertaining me with jokes and such, trying to get me to stay. A lightbulb suddenly appeared above my head and I thought, “I’ll call ‘Trace Michael.’*” So I called him and it turned out he was headed home and was basically about to drive past where I was. Instead of going home, he came over to the restaurant and we went in for a drink and to exchange date disaster stories.

After a drink or two, we went from “eh, what a night” territory to “this is so much fun” and were laughing and just enjoying each other’s company. We always had fun together, but this mutual rescuing from a bad night made it even better. We walked out to our vehicles, which were conveniently parked next to each other — me with my purple Saturn, he with his big white Ford pickup and kept talking and talking and talking. I ended up putting on the stereo and was a little embarrassed to find John Denver in the CD player. I went to change it and he said, “no! I love John Denver!” and then he grabbed me and spun me around, pulled me close, and we danced in the parking lot for the length of the CD and again at least a time or two more. People would drive up, look at us, park, go into the restuarant, people were coming out of the restaurant to watch us, and it didn’t matter. We were dancing and enjoying the night.

At some point, we realized how long we’d been dancing and where we were and just started giggling. He’d pulled me closer and I giggled into his chest, while he leaned down and giggled so that his breath warmed the top of my head. We held each other for a few minutes as we tried to regain our composure, we pull away just enough to look at each other, and start laughing all over again. We just couldn’t seem to let go, though.

Finally, we noticed we were the only two cars left in the lot and checked the time. It was late and he had to work in the morning. Reluctantly we stepped back and looked at each other, smiling. A few wonderful kisses, a spin, and a dip, and he had me in my car. He danced back to his and off we went. At the light, where our paths diverged, we waved and blew kisses goodbye.

The night hadn’t started off so great, but it ended perfectly. And dancing in a parking lot to John Denver? Or to anyone… who does that these days? Nobody, really. It was a sweet, romantic moment. Very likely the most romantic gesture of all.

We remained friends for years. Mostly, we’d email and send occasional letters after he was stationed in the Gulf. Twice we had a chance to get together again and it was just as sweet and joyful as could be. We lost touch back in 2003 and I’ve kind of always wondered what happened to him. Ah, well… that door closed and another opened, but that’s a story for another time.

* This guy was a cross between Trace Adkins and John Michael Montgomery? Yeah. He was. Tall. Blond. Really good looking. Drool!