Today’s gratitude challenge is to share my favorite memory.
Wow! I have to pick just one?
The first one that comes to mind is the day I met Captain Cavedweller.
Don’t laugh (at least too loudly), but we met on a blind date arranged by our meddling parents. I was a year out of college, gainfully employed and living in town at the time. He was home for Christmas break from college.
Despite the best efforts of our parents to force us to meet, we foiled their plans. I’m not kidding… my dad and his dad conspired to have me pick up some truck parts at his parents’ house. Aware of the schemers’ plans, he refused to answer the door and I grabbed the parts and got out of there so fast, his mom claims I nearly made her head spin.
The next planned attempt to introduce us was a joint family trip to the woods to get Christmas trees. I found some reason not to go (although it was one of my most favorite things to do) and he refused to go. It ended up no one went that year because everyone got sick.
Fast forward a few weeks. CC’s car wasn’t working right and he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. His dad promised to fix his car but only if he’d go out on a date with me.
Tired of hiding out and creating excuses not to meet, we both gave in and agreed to a date on the day after Christmas.
In the very brief conversation that took place over the phone, CC agreed to pick me up at the house where I was living (which just happened to be less than a mile from his parents’ home) at six so we could eat dinner before going to the movies.
Six o’clock arrived but CC did not.
By 6:30, I was annoyed. At 6:45, I contemplated changing out of the dressy clothes I wore into jeans, turning off the lights and fuming quietly in the dark.
As I headed to the bedroom to change at 6:55, the phone rang. It was him and he’d somehow failed to write down directions to the house (tucked at the end of a curving dead-end street). Even over the phone, he sounded sheepish – and a little frustrated. Apparently, he’d been driving around for more than an hour trying to find my house.
Within five minutes, he rang the bell. I took a deep breath, smoothed down the front of my slacks and opened the door.
He glanced at me with those vibrant blue eyes from the front step and grinned. In that moment, I knew I’d met the man I would someday marry.
We laugh now, about how persistent our dads were about setting us up. I’m ever so grateful they did. If you ask CC, I think he might just agree.
