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Eleven

By Wil C. Fry, 2016.08.18, 18:28

(Copyright © 2016 by Wil C. Fry. All rights reserved.)


Eleven years ago today
She smiled and waved and pointed my way
Riding descending stairs
Ignoring the curious onlookers’ stares

She had a phone in her hand
The entire week was planned
She hugged me, kissed me
It felt like she’d missed me

I’d never seen her before
But I wanted to see her more
And yes, surprisingly,
She felt the same way about me

Jittery, calm, hopeful and worried
I needn’t have been so hurried
Everything that had never been right
Was repaired between us that night

A sight I’ll never forget
Never regret
The day we met




Eleven years ago today, 2005.08.18, was the day I first met Marline in person. After 19 days of talking to her on the phone (and a few emails before that), she flew from New York City to Oklahoma to meet me.

Wow, those emails of mine must have been powerful, or I must be an excellent telephone conversationalist. Whatever it was, those few weeks were enough for this marvelous, accomplished, intelligent, educated, liberated woman to decide to throw in her lot with me.

I had been devastated by relationships before. Even worse, I had caused devastation in relationships before. So I was indeed wary. Wary of making another big mistake. Wary of causing pain (or at best, disappointment) to someone so beautiful and so worthy.

My fears were groundless. When I saw Marline descending the escalator at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, at 10:49:14 (according to the EXIF of the image I recorded at that moment), my heart leapt within me, yet at the same time I felt a sense of impending calm.

Her visit lasted only a few days, but both of us knew. The chemistry was good enough that she decided to return two weeks later. And again in October. And again in December. And then I flew to New York the following March. By June, we were married.

For very few of the changes in my life can I point to a single day and say “That’s where it all began”, or “that’s the day my life changed forever”. Most changes have been gradual, with lots of fits and starts. Meeting Marline was a huge exception to that rule. Aug. 18, 2005, is the day my life changed forever. Nothing after that would be the same, and I knew it. I knew it when she came down the escalator, and I knew it as I drove the hour from OKC to my Seminole apartment in a 1993 Chevy Corsica with no air conditioner in 100-degree heat.

I knew even as I drove her on a tour of my tiny town that we would not stay there. I knew before I met her in person that I had met an intellectual superior, a work ethic that would take us far, and a spirit that would change how I viewed the world.

And for once in my life, I was completely correct.




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