A Stroll on the Football Field

Laura and I dated for five years before we were engaged, and it had been about six and a half years by the time we were married. When we tell people that, we are often asked about when we met, dating throughout high school and college, how we got engaged, etc. Rarely do we tell stories farther back than our first date, but this is the earliest story I can think of. It is the first time I really noticed Laura.

My sophomore year was the first year that I played varsity football. I was the third team middle linebacker, a lowly peon who started on the junior varsity team and rode the bench for the varsity. Basically, I was a blocking dummy for the first team. Still, I had fun and enjoyed the game. Late in the season, we played Brookwood, a small mining city in between Vance and Tuscaloosa. They were an awful football team. I think they finished 0-10 that year (though they were also the most gracious team we played, teaching me a lot about how to lose with some dignity). Since they were so bad, I played almost the entire second half.

When the game was over, we had our brief team meeting and headed to see families and friends on the sidelines. As I was walking off the field, I saw her. She was wearing a tan shirt and a pair of jeans. I think I stared at her for at least a minute. It was as if I had never seen her before, couldn't remember her name, lost all sense of time and forgot everything else around me. I had gone to school with her since the first grade, had taken classes with her throughout junior high and our first two years of high school. I knew that she was pretty, smart, friendly, and funny. Still, it took a walk across a football field on an October night to wake me up to who she was and stirred my affection for her.

That night in the car ride home with my parents, I asked my parents about their story. I talked about this girl who I knew had to be the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Three months later, we had our first date, but that is a story for another time. Eight years later, I am so thankful for the blessing of my beautiful wife, for the life that we have together. I love you, sweetheart.