The meeting of a lifetime

Anyone who meets me for the first time will think I'm shy. I tend to listen and not speak.

Confidence is not a skill I lack.
Except when it came to courting girls in my youth.

I got around the problem with alcohol. Large doses of it...
Except when it came to one specific girl.

We worked together. I walked by her everyday at the front desk and hurriedly whispered "hello" on the way to my cubicle. She was pretty, but I did not know her.

My friends told me great stories about her.
She was out of my "league".

My two best friends wanted to go camping. They were living together so any camping was going to end up with them getting cuddly, while I sat coldly on the other side of the campfire. Having been down the third wheel path with them before, I declined the invitation unless we brought another person, preferably female.

They invited the front desk girl, who immediately accepted. Intimidated by her beauty, I asked my  friend to drive with me while his girlfriend and the front desk girl drove in a separate car.

We arrived at the campground, laughed, joked, played some stupid games and drank. We had two tents: one for the lovebirds and one for me and the front desk girl. That's a lot of pressure for two strangers. So we drank and talked while the lovebirds expectedly cuddled on the other side of the campfire.

I was nervous. I drank a bit too much. Yet I remained a gentleman. My mom would've been so proud. Once we got back to the tent, I curled into my sleeping bag at farthest side of the tent so as not to offend or scare off my new roommate. As I slowly slipped into sleep, I noticed my companion didn't have a pillow. With a pillow and an extra blanket, I offered her mine. At first she refused, but once she realized I wasn't going to take "no" for an answer, she took it. I didn't need the benefit of a pillow. The alcohol helped soothed me into a dreamy sleep with the extra blanket nestled beneath my head.

That night sparked a friendship. Although she smelled like other girls, she was different.

A few weeks later, she called me to go see a movie. It still sounded like a friendship, but other "girl" friends had never done that.

At the moves, she asked if I wanted to play tennis sometime. After tennis, he asked if I wanted go to dinner sometime.

I think about that time and wonder what I was thinking. She clearly liked me. But history tells a story the present does not always know.

In each moment, it wasn't clear if the front desk girl wanted a friend or a boyfriend. So as much as I was really enjoying her company, I played it cool. I had been down the confusing road of friend versus boyfriend before. I was happy to have a new friend and didn't want to ruin a good thing by pushing the wrong buttons.

So in my non-aggressive way, the front desk girl wasn't sure if I was interested in her.

I invited her over to watch a movie at my apartment. I popped in a movie starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. I had no idea what "Bridges of Madison County" was about.  About ten minutes into the movie, I rubbed I my elbow. I played a lot of softball that summer and tendonitis had crept into my right elbow.

The front desk girl offered to rub it for me.
Boom!  Now I knew she liked me.

You never have to sell to someone who is willing to buy.

She started to rub my sore elbow and leaned in for a magical touch of the lips. She leaned in and I'm sure someone started playing a harp in the room.

Our first kiss was in a basement apartment watching a movie about a middle aged woman's internal struggle of loyalty versus adultery.

Two months later I proposed marriage to the front desk girl.
Two years after that, I married the girl of my dreams.

The little front desk girl is not only my wife, she's also my business partner, the mother of my children and to this day my best friend.

Who would've known that a whispered hello would result into a lifetime of meaning?