A Hop, Skip and a Jump

I noticed him almost as soon as I walked into the classroom- good-looking, tall, dark-haired, making the people around him laugh. On a small campus, it was easy to spot new faces. I'm not going to tell you that it was love at first sight, but it was most definitely attraction at first sight.

It was the first day of class and our Professor asked us to arrange our desks in a circle. One by one, we were to tell everyone who we were, where we were from and what our major was. It was during this time that the new guy said a phrase that would change both of our lives forever:

"I'm from Worthington, which is just a hop, skip and a jump away from Goshen."

My eyes widened and a smile broke out across my face. Not only was this guy attractive,  his hometown was very close to mine! Very few people from our area went to MCLA and this bonded us immediately.

We started conveniently running into each other all over campus. At one point in our conversations, I had to break the bad news to him that I had a boyfriend. "But we're on the rocks!" I assured him hurriedly. The truth is, I was a year into my first relationship ever, with a guy I had barely anything in common with. I loved being in a relationship, but I didn't love him.

The night after I broke the news to Steve, I ran around the floor of my dorm in a tizzy. "What should I do?", I asked my friends. I remember one of them, Matt, saying: "I think you've already made up your mind."

I had. The next day was the last day I would see Steve before Spring Break. I ran up to him after class and said: "Hey, do you want to hang out over spring break?" He looked surprised. "As friends or as a date?", he asked. "As a date! I'm breaking up with my boyfriend tonight!". This led into a four hour conversation.

We couldn't stop talking.

12 years later, we still can't stop talking. It's one of the hallmarks of our relationship.

I knew on that March day that I made the right choice. Love comes when you least expect it (like in Forms of Speech class).