It has been almost 10 years since the first time I saw Stephanie. We were both in the weight room at the YMCA; she was one of the very few females who would exercise in the weight room. She had headphones on, and I was certain that was at least partly to block out distractions. I think she was artfully communicating through the use of her body language “nobody is welcome to approach me right now. I’m not interested.” She demanded respect and I really admired that about her.
She seemed to exude a very rare and genuine confidence. She was beautiful, and that was obvious. She seemed so sure of herself that the shallow, common flattery from men in the gym wouldn’t be impressive to her. I got the sense that she was probably so unimpressed that she proactively avoided any unnecessary attention. She was out my league, but that was ok because she was out of everyone else’s too. After rationalizing to myself who I thought she was, I found I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I couldn’t find any flaws or “catches”. There was nothing about her that I didn’t like. I was in love. At first sight.
I didn’t muster up the courage to speak to her that day. She didn’t even realize I was there. I just walked away with an intriguingly burning crush that, to this day, never went away. I didn’t know what the future held. Honestly I thought I would never have a chance with her. I thought at best, one day, I might be able to pay her a compliment and brighten up her day. But that was about it. Thankfully for me though Jesus thinks differently than I do, because we’ve been married for almost 6 years.
Happy Birthday to my wife, Stephanie!
Love always
Ben