iBlog

Flag Day

Nineteen years ago today I started falling in love.

I had always thought of her as my little sister’s friend, characterizing her as loud and annoying. Funny how things change over the years.

A week and a half earlier I didn’t want her at my graduation party, afraid to admit to myself that I actually kind of liked her. And there was this other girl… but she never showed up. Kim did, and stayed the whole time, showing my grandmother my yearbook, laughing at how she was accidentally identified as Kim Newhouse, not realizing that 3 and a half years later the prophecy would be fulfilled.

June 14, 1985 was a busy day. Our church youth group had been planning a fund raiser to help us get to camp that summer. We put on a spaghetti dinner and old time variety show. There was singing and dancing, and I did a magic show as the closing act. It was my first real stage show, and it was a great success.

After it was all over I took Kim home. I had sensed that we were growing closer as we had worked together planning the event during the previous week. And so, in my own clumsy way, I initiated our relationship.

And I’ve been falling deeper in love with her every day since.