A Love Story

***We're blowing past the 140 word limit in this post because some stories simply require more words. 

When I was 14, there was this girl that I really liked.  The first time I really noticed her, she was sitting a couple rows in front of me at church and I was smitten by her straight, long brown hair and her luminous smile.  We caught each other sneaking glances during service and after church we played that game where you pretend to avoid the other person while also trying to accidentally run into them at the same time.  

It turned out she was one of those high school girls with a college boyfriend but he lived in another city so I figured my chances were solid.  For the next few months I played the "friend" card, hanging out, chatting on the phone and pretending to be sympathetic when she told me about her relationship troubles.  I remember sitting on the floor of her apartment, watching TV with some friends and rubbing her sock covered feet, which, in retrospect, is about the worst kind of first move you can make. 

Our phone chats become longer and more frequent until one day she called to tell me that the inevitable had happened, she had broken it off with the college boy.  I said I was sorry to hear that but I wasn't.  I also promised that I would give her some time to recover from this terribly traumatic life event.  Apparently, I was a serial liar in my younger days.  

Of course, now that the girl of my dreams was available, I had to come up with the most romantic, heart stirring gesture of affection to properly convey how infatuated I had become with her.  What extravagant act of love could I perform that would woo her heart and leave her hopelessly in love with me?  

Valentines Day was coming up, and as I sat in my home room science class pondering my dilemma, divine inspiration struck.  Well, it was actually just the morning announcements, but whatever.  All the local schools were participating in a "flower gram" program, where for a fee, you could have a single flower delivered to the "valentine" of your choice.  My opportunity was knocking and I opened the door.  I paid my $5, filled out the mandated form and unknowingly, changed my life forever.  

Valentines Day came and went, my flower was delivered to my love, and she called to let me know that she found it really "sweet" that I had thought of her.  I was too nervous to tell her that I spent most of my time doing nothing but thinking of her.  I tried to play it down, said it was just a friendly gesture, worried that I had rushed things and scared her off by coming on too strong with my mind blowing romantic overtures.  

I need not have worried.  Within a couple days, we were holding hands on a church ski trip, laughing and carefree, hopelessly clueless about how much work real love is and the sheer magnitude of what we were actually getting ourselves into.

That was the first and only time I ever had to convince someone to date me. Five and a half years later that girl with the straight brown hair and firework smile would say "I do" when she was asked if she would love me forever, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. 

Fifteen Valentines Days later, I'm reminded that the flower that started this whole journey was a carnation, which it turns out is my wife's least favourite type of flower.  

That means the lesson of the story is this: If you want the woman of your desire to fall hopelessly in love with you, eventually become your wife, give birth to your three children and be more in love with you fifteen years later, all you have to do is spend a really minimal amount of money and effort giving her an ugly flower that she hates.  

All these years I've been trying to tell Sarah I love her and I'm not real sure that any of my efforts are massive improvements over that smelly, five dollar carnation. I still use the wrong words, create conflict, do hurtful things and fail repeatedly as a husband and a father.  I get it wrong far more often than I get it right. 

But that's the beauty of real, lasting love.  It's kind, patient, quick to forgive and slow to anger.  It always hopes, always protects, always perseveres.  True love looks at a wilted, cheap carnation and receives it as a beautiful long stemmed rose.