Where the heart is

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I returned to the town where we met. It is only a two hour drive and on occasion we still have reason to return in order to visit old friends or attend an appointment. Yesterday we did both. It was an ordinary day filled with ordinary errands. We bundled up against the blasted cold, scoured the shops for savings, and buckled and un-buckled our thankfully cheerful baby about a billion times. There was nothing particularily romantic about the way we raced from shop to shop, errand to errand. The four hours in the car did not include much in the way of incredible conversation. We simply held hands, listened to music, and soaked up each other's presence. There was nothing unusual in the way we spent our day. However, we returned home feeling like a couple of college kids falling hard and fast for each other. All the excitement and electricity that comes with the beginning of relationship became real and renewed for one fabulous evening.

What made an ordinary day turn into an extraordinary evening? I think it had to do with dinner. Before leaving the city where we fell in love we decided to stop for a quick supper at a small restaurant. It was one we had eaten at often while we dated, as it is only a short distance from the college campus. There is nothing even remotely romantic about this restaurant. It isn't fancy and the food is standard fare. But the moment we walked in it was as if I had been whisked back in time. Sitting only a few booths away from us, towards the back of the restaurant, was a young couple. They were leaning across the table towards each other as if they couldn't get close enough. I couldn't hear their conversation but you could tell it wasn't specifically deep....and yet they both seemed completely compelled by it. It was obvious they were dating and soaking up every second of this simple dinner together. Suddenly I could see every supper we had spent in exactly the same way. I saw the booth where we sat the first time we went out together and I could almost see us sitting there. Conversations came back to me. Inside jokes over silly things. I remembered what we ate, what we drank, the way we looked...all lit up by the first blush of falling in love.

Seeing that couple transported me back to another time. A time before feeding a baby and entertaining a toddler took up all your energy while eating out. When there was never a shortage of things to say and even when there was....you looked nowhere else except each other's eyes. And this time, rather than missing those moments and mourning their loss....I felt every one of them all over again. I allowed the remembered moments to become real and for an evening we returned to the way we were. The way we still can be. Two kids finding out what it's like to fall in love.

For my first installment in the month of February I want to challenge you all to return to the place where your first fell in love. Let your heart remember...and allow it to take the lead.