Blind Date’s Beginning & End

Blind Date's Beginning & End

After Baby #2, I went back to teaching. I took off the most days allowed while still eeking out credit for an entire school year. When I was at work, I grieved missing my baby’s milestones. When at home, I could feel myself losing balance of one or more of the plates a teacher of 28 first-graders juggles. I cried and prayed one night; it was a plea for guidance. I was so unhappy I couldn’t formulate a next step.

The following day, a teacher at an elementary school in my township sent out an email asking for a co-teacher during the upcoming school year. She, too, had given birth to a daughter that year and shared my same heart tugs. A couple of interviews later, I found myself enjoying the most balance a working mom could ask for: 2.5 days a week teachin’, 2.5 days mommin’. My professional role gave me time away from diapers & laundry. The other 4.5 days, I appreciated playing a part in my own children’s development.

My co-teacher and I had a great 5 year run. She is a talker and I am a writer. I cringed at making phone calls to parents & she despised creating weekly newsletters. I appreciated the occasional snarky wit of an 8 year old. She, on the other hand, could (and still can) spot the seedling of a star inside a quiet kiddo. Excellent at her craft, she has a knack for nurturing children to build self-confidence, which results in spectacular blossoms year after year. She always said I was good with the data part of teaching, which at least makes my current Accounts Payable position slightly understandable. Our yin/yang teacher combo ended when I had to return to full time work due to my divorce.

As you can imagine, this chica became a dear friend. She is the light bulb behind the idea to shine a spotlight on the first stages of lasting relationships. I now have the scoop on how her parents, Sandy & Lewis, started out 58 years ago this August.

In May of 2018, I wrote Letter to the Universe, summing up advice handed down from a friend, learned from a shaman in Costa Rica. Part of the instructions were to be very specific when writing down desires. When I read the story of Sandy and Lewis, I connected a dot in my mind. Sandy sent a prayer request to her Maker with distinct intentions. She knew she desired a man of faith, but also knew she preferred a taller specimen with brown eyes and brown hair. This had me in awe! I am still a wishy washy mess when compared to Miss Sandy who was at least 20 years my junior when she sent her desires upward. I’ve only recently claimed to Draw the Lines with what I want in a man, and, to be honest, I’ve already bent a little. Regardless of my slow aptitude, it is important to note that desires lifted, backed with confidence in faith, possess power.

Miss Sandy’s friend set her up on a blind date with the son of a farmer who had hitch-hiked from West Virginia to Indiana in search of work. (Her friend’s friend vouched for him, and it wasn’t the 21st century, so it was all okay.) Years passed, dates to movies occurred, families were met, Lewis was drafted into the army, letters were written, other suitors came in and out of the picture…all the while, the couple continually shared a connection. Sandy called it “a magnetic pull”. They were married on August 15, 1962 and have raised 4 children. I would wager that to this day Lewis radiates the same “southern gentleman style” Sandy noticed as he stood by the car door to escort his wife-to-be the first night they met.

Sandy and Lewis’ first date was a double date, alongside the couple that introduced them. Ironically, the other couple participated in an argument that would end their relationship that same evening. Semisonic sang about every new beginning coming from some other beginning’s end. Sandy and Lewis offer God the credit for bringing them together on that first night and every one thereafter.

Two relationship stories in, hopeless romantics are favored, with love at first sight and a blind date both leading to nearly 6 decades of marriage. I am anxiously seeking the stories of more flames that were able to keep the fire kindled throughout the years.