My Love Story- part 4- State of Confusion

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Gary's 2 years of serving and growing and learning and maturing had come to an end.

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My 2 years of immaturing and rebelling and wreaking havoc on a loving home seemed to have no end in sight.

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As Gary had come home after completing a successful mission, I had just failed the 9th grade. I was already older that the other kids in my grade and was headed toward using a walker at my high school graduation.

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To complete my 9th grade year I needed to go to summer school for either math or PE. I disliked them both, but PE seemed to be the lesser of the two evils.

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There are teacher success stories abound, many a people have had teachers change their lives, but who knew that the teacher who would do that for me would be a PE coach and who knew it would happen with a group of misfits during summer school? That summer I had a 3 hour workout from Monday to Friday with a very tough coach. When the high school football players missed a day of conditioning, they came to our PE class to make up the work and said our workout was harder than their football conditioning. What we did was more like boot camp. We were pushed in ways that PE coaches don't usually push a PE class (coach admitted). We spent the first hour and a half running and the next hour an a half of calisthenics. Our coach didn't let us quit, didn't let us take breaks (until he said so), he didn't let us tell ourselves we couldn't. His motto was mind over matter. He taught us, at least he taught me, that I could succeed in anything if I put my mind to it. It's certainly a lesson I'd been taught before- by my parents, church leaders, other school teachers, but Coach Burke spoke my language.

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Before I knew it I had muscles. I was an athlete. And I had the beginning of an attitude change.

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One day I was waiting (with my knew athletic body) for my mom to come and pick me up after summer school when Gary and another friend from our church Ed pulled up in The Blue Bomber. They said they were all headed to the beach, a big group of them, including my older brother and sister, and they got permission to come and pick me up, 'did I want to come to?' Of course I did! But before we got into the car, I asked if they wanted to see my new biceps (they really were impressive) and they both busted out laughing, saying, "Your mom told us that you'd show us your muscles."

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Gary's summer job was delivering ice cream. He was an ice cream man. He very often stopped by our house and all my siblings would gather around his truck with the music going, goofing off and teasing each other, until he remembered he had a job to do. One particular day after a normal visit around the ice cream truck he left and we all went inside the house. Darla and I were telling mom the latest silly conversation that was just had outside with Gary. My mom looked at us both and said, "You know, I am not sure which one of you Gary's coming by to see."

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That nearly took my breath away. What was she saying?? Surely he's coming to see Darla, right? Surely he is. She's all grown up, she's moved to California and is just home for the summer. I'm just little old me.

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Could it be?

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It wasn't until then that I started taking notice of everything he said and did regarding me.

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Is he teasing me or is he flirting?

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Oh, but it didn't matter. I still had a boyfriend, I still had Al. WE were madly in love. Right?

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Then the days before Darla was to fly back to California (where she was busy enjoying California boys)...... I got dumped.

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Al broke up with me.

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The night before Darla was to leave she was out for the evening, I was home babysitting my younger siblings, it was late and they were in bed. I was down in the dumps with my break up and I pulled out the great big box of love letters Al had written me, I had Lionel Richie's song Stuck on You playing on my record player, playing over and over and over. I had the lights dimmed- the song, the letters, and tears. Lots and lots of tears. I read, I listened, I sobbed. I had a big puffy red runny nose and swollen face........ when someone knocked on the door.

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It was Gary.

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He had come to say goodbye........ to Darla.

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(with a little, "What's with the tears?!")

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to be continued

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