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A Whirlwind Romance, Part 7: Free Love
Catch up on the rest of the story here.
The next week was busy. I awoke early each morning and got myself down to the local college campus by 6:00 am. We had a tent set up there from which we would be preparing and serving the food for all 3500 conference attendees. My first job of the day was to turn on all of the ovens. From there I wiped down the tables, restocked the utensils and napkins, and began brewing coffee. Lots of coffee.
The conference was for distributors of a super-blue green algae nutritional supplement. And might I say, they were a tiny bit delusional strange different? Apparently, the local lake was the only place in the United States where this particular brand of algae was found, which drew these people in like some sort of hippie mecca. They frolicked in the nasty green scum at the edge of the lake and celebrated by having t-shirts made: “I swam naked in the algae today!” They smeared the goo on their faces and arms. They wore macrame halter-tops. (At least some of them did.)
Now this was back in 1995. Organic food was still a fringe idea. Most people hadn’t heard of free-range chickens or fair-trade chocolate. But these people had. Some of their dietary requests were new ideas to those of us serving them, but we adapted. The group was about 25% vegan, hence the large quantities of coffee. I’m not sure they ate anything that week other than coffee with soy milk and turbinado sugar, and super-blue green algae straight from the lake.
Now that I am older, wiser and more familiar with alternative food choices I have to say these people weren’t just vegans, they were super-vegans. Super blue-green vegans!
But you don’t care about that, you’re here for romance, right? It’s coming…
Breakfast began at 7:00 am. We finished serving dinner at 8:30 pm. I worked open to close with a two hour break in the middle of the afternoon. I wisely used this time to call W, write him love letters that I had no intention of delivering, and to plan our future.
Let’s see…it’s August now. We’ll say “I love you” in about a month. He’ll propose at Christmas and we’ll get married in the spring. I know that’s rushing things a bit, but when it’s right, it’s right.
The last day of the conference we set up a buffet picnic in the park. It was a beautiful day, hot but not too hot, with clear blue skies. Once the meal was prepared and people were serving themselves I found myself with a bit of free time. I sat down on a blanket to relax and soak up some vitamin D.
That’s when W drove up. I had decided to sell my car to my sister and he drove the 250 miles to pick me up. And pick me up he did! When he saw me, he raced up and grabbed me into a feet-off-the-ground hug and a kiss that causes several blue-greeners to burst into spontaneous applause.
It was good to be together again.
He hung out for the rest of the picnic, helping where he could, and then we headed back to my sister’s for the night. Julie spent part of the evening getting to know him before slipping off to bed early. Thanks, Jules!
We rented an unromantic movie, “Guarding Tess” with Nicolas Cage and Shirley MacLaine. Perfect for not really watching…
There we were, together on the couch with me leaning back into his chest and his arms wrapped around me. His lips softly brushed the top of my head and he whispered, “Heidi, I love you.” I turned to look at him and was touched to see tears in his eyes. His voice cracked a bit as he continued, “I’ve never said that to a girl before, but I do. I love you.”
Somehow, I was able to speak past the lump in my throat and reply, “I love you, too.”
H + W = Love
We not-watched the rest of the movie and then said goodnight. My brother-in-law was out out of town, so I quietly slipped into bed beside my sister. I tried not to wake her, but she stirred and groggily asked, “How was the movie?”
“Julie, he said he loved me.”
“Oh, that’s nice…” and she drifted back to sleep, unaware of what I had really said. But I lay awake for awhile, thinking.
He loves me.
To be continued…
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Once upon a time there was a Heidi…
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must you end it there?!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG. I was one of those super blue green algae people. In the early 90s I took something that came from Lake Clackamas or something like that.
But I ate steak, so will you overlook that?
Thanks for the cliffhanger!
Lori in Denvers last blog post..Show & Tell: winter sunrise