Riding home from the hospital in Ft.Smith with those roses in my lap almost made me forget that I wasn't going to get to play sports ever again. I couldn't wait to get home and call Chris to thank him. Sometimes when I am feeling mushy and sentimental (like now!), I think about how if I had been discharged home even a few minutes earlier, I would have missed the delivery of the flowers. Fate had intervened! :)
I wasn't able to go back to school for an entire month, so a tutor came to my house and helped me with my assignments. My brother Nick played football with Chris, and one afternoon, he brought Chris home with him after practice. I remember being so excited and nervous when I looked outside and saw him getting out of my brother's truck. What was it about this guy that had me head-over-heels crazy about him for almost 3 years now??!! If I remember correctly, Chris had wanted to see how I was doing, and while I was there, he offered to help me with some homework. I'm pretty sure all we did was flirt and laugh the entire time he was there. Books might have been opened, but the only thing we were studying was each other!!
We continued this casual flirtation for a few weeks but Chris still seemed so nervous and shy and he never did ask me out. I was getting impatient! In October on my 16th birthday, a group of fellow classmates and friends threw me a huge surprise birthday party (everyone was feeling sorry for me being 16 and stuck at home for a month!). I was able to get out of the house and go to a football game that night, and the party was after. I had a wonderful time and was so surprised! As I opened cards and gifts, Chris quietly sat by my side. After the party, he told me Happy Birthday and then left. Nothing.
About a week later, I was released to go back to school and to able to drive!!! That was such a huge deal, after all I was 16 and an independent driver now!! I was still crushing on Chris, but seriously trying to get over him. On October 17th, the football team had an away game in Cedarville. I rode with my parents to watch my brother Nick play. Chris was a starting sophomore lineman on the team. During the game, Chris hurt his ankle and and had to sit out the rest of the game. (He had torn his achilles tendon). After the game, as we were walking back to our van, my mom and Chris' mom were "plotting". They knew we liked one another, and I guess they decided to take matters in their own hands! They decided Chris would be more comfortable riding home in my parent's full-size van so he could stretch out. He needed to sit in the very back so he would have plenty of leg room (He's 6'4"). We had 2 other people riding with us, so where else was I to sit, but in the back with Chris :) I still remember that night like it was yesterday. We sat in the back together and I got cold. He had a Dallas Cowboys throw in his bag (I really don't know why!) and he got it out for me to cover up. He was always so thougtful. On the way home, he reached under the blanket, took my hand in his, and squeezed it tight. He didn't say a word. He didn't have to. His hand said it all. We were a couple again, this time for real. And he had finally made the first move. Cheesy as it sounds, I remember thinking at that very moment, "maybe I am going to marry this guy someday after all!" To this day, we still consider October 17th, 1997 as the official beginning of our relationship :)
Chris and I spent the next couple of weeks having physical therapy "dates" after school, him for his ankle, me for my back. We were a match made in heaven! Ha! Finally we had a real date, he came over to my house to watch a movie with my family. Afterwards, I drove him home (I turned 16 two months before he did). I was so excited because we were going to be all alone and I was hoping for a good-night kiss. As we were leaving my house, he told me his mom had called and asked if we could stop and pick-up his younger brother from his sister's house and drive him home too. I was so disappointed, because I knew that ruined any chance at having our first kiss. We stopped and picked up Josh, and he crawled into the backseat of my little 2 door car. We drove the 10 miles to their house, and when we got there I prepared to just say bye and be on my way. But much to my surprise, Chris got out of the car, told Josh to go in the house, and got back in the car!!! My super-shy boyfriend had decided he was going to kiss me that night! That first kiss was magical, and I floated home on a cloud that night.
To be continued....
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