Homecoming

I've been so caught up in telling the story of me and Mike that I have neglected a very relevant sub-story. You may recall that my original invitation to Mike was partially motivated by my daughter's Homecoming football game. This year was more exciting than ever because Darcie would be going on her first real date. I knew I would be teary-eyed (remember, I'm an emotional Italian).

Friday was Ranger day at Jesuit - a day of fun and games involving both Jesuit and Ursuline (Darcie's school) students. The school day ended early so Darcie and some of her friends, including her date, congregated at our house before the big game. Mike and I had a blast talking with them. We both felt so young again. We were sitting at the fireplace holding hands when Darcie's best friend, Amanda said, "Oh, look how cute they are. They've only been together 24 hours and they're already holding hands!" I busted out laughing. Only 24 hours! I had been waiting 30 years!

An annual Texas-style barbeque is part of the Homecoming tradition at Jesuit so Mike and I headed to the high school. I had attended 6 of these alone and I have to say, it was so much more fun with Mike by my side. After dinner, we walked to the stadium and set up our seats in my usual place near the band. As other parents trickled in they were surprised to see me with someone. I was giddy as I introduced Mike, whose hand I was still holding, by the way. There was just no wiping the happiness off my face. We explained that we were old high school buddies but the looks we got back were skeptical. I think we looked like more than buddies by this time. When Mike went to the concession stand, all the mom's said how gorgeous he was and how happy I looked.

Near the end of the third quarter we decided to stretch our legs a bit so we went for a walk. We walked along the fence through the masses of students until we reached the corner of the end zone. We stood facing each other and Mike took both my hands in his. Suddenly, we were the only two people in the world. There was no football game, there was no band, there was no mass of students anywhere near. My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest as I gazed into Mike's eyes like a moonstruck teenager. He took my face in his hands and finally, unbelievably, he kissed me. And I felt nothing, empty, what was the big deal.

Just kidding. For the first time in my life I understood the phrase, "the earth moved". I actually trembled. I could barely keep my knees from buckling beneath me. Forget self-control. I was lost!

Getting Closer

The days went by and Mike and I continued to email each other. We had several nice phone conversations as well. As November 3rd approached, my excitement level increased to such a degree that I swear, I really was a giddy little school girl once again. Although I kept telling myself not to have expectations, I hate to admit that I was fantasizing about the possiblities. Then I reminded myself that he lived in Denver and I lived in Dallas. There was no way either one of us was interested in a long distance relationship. Well, at least I could have a nice long fantasy weekend, pretending that I was actually dating someone. After all, I hadn't really dated since my divorce 6 years earlier. In fact, I was resigned to spending the rest of my years as a single woman and that was just fine with me. Love was highly over-rated and romanticized. In my opinion, there was really no such thing as love anyway, at least not in the sense of a man and a woman. That thing we so eagerly called love was just a need to have another person make us feel good about ourselves.

My emotional whiplash was exhausting so I finally decided to just be casual and let whatever would happen, happen. You'll laugh when you hear how it actually turned out. Talk about naive!