Bingerina’s Weblog

He says he saw me first.  I say I saw him first.

It was April, 1997 and we were on a hot sticky school bus (number 11) in South Mississippi.

I noticed his eyes first, sparkling mischievously behind the longest eyelashes I had ever seen on a boy. The second thing I noticed was his dimpled smile and perfect, white teeth.  I was 14 years old and my heart totally melted in my chest for the first time in my life.

Later, around midnight on May 25, 1997, he would tell me that he noticed my waist length blonde hair and had to restrain himself reaching across the seat and touching it.  We stayed on the phone the entire night.  He was 15, but his soul was much much older.   We both discovered that we had already realized that the world was big and we had so much time,  so much to learn,  so much to do.  The best part about that night, was realizing that we both understood.

that sacrifices would be just another part of the journey

that love was about more than romance

that people could make true, unbreakable promises and mean it

That understanding- that honesty- we shared that night, even as children- ultimately led us down a life altering path towards each other.

From May 25, 1997 to May 25, 2009… Every relationship experience, every first, every good, every bad, every heart-soaring and heart breaking, every memory, every idea, every dream, every moment…  all of it has been wrapped up in each other.

How rare is that?

That we are the only people who have been able to truly break each other’s hearts?  That we are the only people who have been able to truly love each other’s hearts?

There is another thing we talked about on that night, 12 years ago today…

yet one more thing we understood…

That is, if everyone on Earth could know what we knew,  if everyone could feel what we felt and love how we loved…

then everyone would know what it was to be truly happy.

That night, we made a wish for everyone else.  And for us.

That it would last.

That we’d always look at each other with wonder and tenderness and understanding.

And lucky for us…

Summer, 1998 (photo courtesy of my momma)

Summer, 2008 (photo courtesy of Angie Hayes)

Happy Anniversary, my lovey.
Bing