They should have met in kindergarten.
As a social five-year-old, the young girl would have been the delight of the class. Her cheerful disposition would have made the teacher exclaim her to be a little drop of sunshine. Her serious side would have never let her forget to play with everyone so that no one was left out.
Her kind nature would have led her to share her favorite cheese cracker snacks with the shy boy at the corner of the sandbox. This simple act of sharing would have blossomed into a lifelong friendship between boy and girl.
They should have met in kindergarten but the week before school was to start the little girl's big brother came home with chicken pox. After spreading through all her siblings the little girl's case quickly worsened. Loosing much of her five-year-old strength she was too sick to go to school. Her parents decided to homeschool her and the little boy stayed in the corner of the sandbox.
They should have meet in kindergarten, but they didn't.
They should have met in sixth grade science camp.
A studious young adolescent, the boy would have been a student leader at the camp. Though shy and nervous to talk to his peers, a young girl's genuine interest would have helped him stumble through his explanation of the formation of stars. Truly eager to learn, the shy boy's knowledge would have inspired the girl to delve into a deeper study of nature; finally someone to explain to her the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees. A fast friendship would have formed and after camp a letter writing campaign would have begun. Out of all the hundreds of new friendships that are formed during camps, theirs would have been one to last.
They should have met in science camp, but the boy's father landed on hard times that summer and science camp was out of the question. His summer was instead spent mowing lawns and reading his wilderness survival books. The girl's time spent at camp, for while she did appreciate the natural habitat she was in, it did not foster any further development of scientific study.
They should have met in sixth grade science camp, but they didn't.
They should have met at a high school football game.
She attended her brother's last football game of his senior year of high school. Sitting in the stands, she cheered and waved for her brother. If the wide receiver, number 13, had scored the final touchdown leading the team into victory the girl would have gone with her brother to the victory party. Number 13 would have been the star of the night, but as he was a little shy the quiet congratulations of the young girl would have set him at ease with all the attention. Conversation would have flowed easily between the two and he would have tentatively would have asked her brother if he could take her home. A fledgling relationship would have developed into a stronger one that even the distance that college can bring wouldn't have broken it.
They should have met at a high school football game but in the last quarter an expert tackle pinned the wide receiver down and instead of scoring the winning touchdown he was escorted to the hospital with broken leg. While the girl's brother's team went on to win, the shy boy was absent from the following victory parties.
They should have met at a high school football game, but they didn't.
They should have met at her family's home.
With his large load of college classes the introverted young man decided that he deserved a break. When an old high school friend invited him home for a family party he went without his usual hesitation in new social situations. Once there he would have been struck by the intelligent conversation from his friend's little sister, who was actually in his same year at the local state university. They would have discussed shared professors, their lack of involvement in the college party scene, and dreams for future careers. By the end of the night his shyness would have been put completely at ease by the cheerful simple young woman and he wouldn't be able to help asking her out on a date.
They should have met at her family's home but the night of the family party she he had attend a late night seminar on the history of the Vietnam war in Hollywood. While she trudged through taking notes the young man made a great impression on her family. She came home much later that night to her mother and father telling her she had missed a wonderful young man.
They should have met at her family's home, but they didn't.
After so many of her plans going awry, Fate decided to let nothing interfere. Regardless of the circumstances, at the next possible time, her two favorite people would finally meet.
It was raining. It was pouring sheets of water down the street as the woman, now an elementary school teacher in her late twenties, struggled to open her broken umbrella. It was crazy-dress day at school and as a model teacher she fully entered into the fun with her young students. Wearing mismatched socks, one pink and one checkered, an orange dress, and a pony tail on the top of her head and her car unfortunately stuck in the shop, she was not prepared to for what Fate had in store.
The man, now a young business owner, was frazzled at the unexpected downpour which drenched his new suit and slowly diluted his coffee with water. His fully functional umbrella had been optimistically left in his apartment. Finally making it to the corner he briefly glanced at the brightly attired woman next to him. His mind on other problems, he didn't notice her struggle with the uncooperative contraption until the umbrella popped opened and made him spill his coffee all over his new, although soggy, white dress shirt.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" Quickly pulling the umbrella over her head she looked at what she had done to the stranger next to her. Seeing the mocha stain on the white shirt she reluctantly raised her eyes to it owner. The face made her wish crazy dress day had never been invented.
"It's really not a problem." He realized it wasn't a lie when he looked down into her concerned expression. While he didn't understand why the orange of her dress was so bright he felt a strange connection when he looked in her eyes.
At that moment the light changed and it was the pedestrian's turn to walk. Without thinking he grasped her hand and helped her to dash across the street into the only open store, which of all places was a small hardware store. Once inside he asked the proprietor for a towel which he then gave to the woman.
"Thank you," was her quiet response as she slowly tried to dry off the parts of her that the umbrella hadn't protected, paying special attention to her to-be-graded projects from her students in her portfolio.
Though usually uncomfortable around unfamiliar people he felt strangely at ease with this woman, even enough to tease a little bit. "That is quite an outfit you have on." He hoped his smile would erase any of her uneasiness but to his surprise, she didn't seem uncomfortable at all and indeed her spirited laugher rang out in the nearly empty store.
"It's crazy-dress day at the school I teach at," and she went on to explain why she was stuck in the rain without transportation. The conversation flowed easily between the two that he began to forget he was soaking wet and she overlooked the fact that her socks didn't match. They talked until the store began to close up and the rain had let up. Before they went their separate ways they exchanged contact information and he could barely wait until the next day to call and ask her out.
Their first date was a success and so were the many that followed. They discovered the many things they had in common which led them both to exclaim, "Why haven't we met before?"
© 2011 Copyright held by the author.