A Million Miles Away…

That’s what Rob and I say our hectic days feel like after going to “our beach.” He took me there after work this afternoon and I couldn’t have been happier. We grabbed a bite on the way and giggled and laughed and talked about silly things and business things, like coming up with enough money to install the proper furnace for our added-on-to house.

Our Beach is the nice big sandy one, where they have bathrooms and pop machines (for all you non-Michiganians, that means Soda) and sometimes in the evening they launch hot air balloons from the park area. Across the Lake, is a picnic pavilion. It’s huge, and once Rob’s whole family (about 100 or so extended relations) had a dinner there. It was OK.

But TODAY…. there was a wedding reception. EVERYONE was wearing blue and/or white. There were white tents set up half-way down the hill toward the water. Flower girls in white dresses were running up and down the hill with endless amounts of energy. Little boys were hiking their pants up over their knees and catching minnows with their bare hands. And the music…..

[cut to three years ago, same beach, same pavilion] Rob and I hadn’t been getting along well at all. We went to the beach to let off steam, and to read books but not really spend time together. Things were horrible because we let them get horrible. God was not the first priority for either of us. But this day at the beach, there was a class reunion of some sort. They played tons of Ella Fitzgerald (my all time fave singer!), Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ethel Waters, etc etc. I was on cloud nine. I sat at the water’s edge with my head on Rob’s lap and for the first time in SO VERY LONG, we connected. It was getting dark and we actually got up and slow-danced on top of our beach towel. That was the END of the beginning of the end. We saw hope again, and love in each other’s eyes. And God worked such amazing things in us both. I cannot even believe how far we’ve come.

[cut back to today] So I’m thinking about all of this as I hear a DJ saying something and then music start. I can’t hear the song at first, but I can see everyone boogying on down at the pavilion. And then I hear it. “Love me like a bum, baby come and get it on…..” Oh my gosh. Can it be??? “… lookin’ like a tramp like a video vam, demolition woman can I be your, be your man?” I look to Rob and he’s doing the head-bob. OH YEAH BABY!!! This was one of OUR SONGS back in High School!!!!!! RAWKIN!!!!!! So we’re in the water up to our necks, doing 80’s preppy dance that Rob calls “The Buck-Tooth-White-Boy”… you know, the one where he bites his bottom lip and closes his eyes and thinks he’s THE coolest kid in school. Maybe add a finger-snap or two.

Yes, I’m so glad the beach was nearly deserted, because we danced in the water, we sang at the top of our lungs while we swam, and we purposefully said the words wrong ala that old cellular ad with Catherine Zeta Jones, “Pour some shook-up Ramen, ooh in the name of love!” They actually played the ENTIRE Def Leppard Hysteria album. Hehe I almost said “tape.” We have the tape. It’s only about 17 years old now.

So work that was so mundane is now, officially 1 million miles away. Thank you God. Thank you Rob.

Explore posts in the same categories: Ancient History, God, Marriage, Music