No. 173

A Story For Grandchildren: A boy wrote to a girl on the Internet and they decided to meet for a drink. This sort of thing happens all the time now, but in the wild free-for-all that was 2005, it probably happened ten percent less frequently.

At first the girl wasn’t interested in the boy, she thought he was just square. Mostly because he tucked in his shirt on their first date. He just wanted to be tidy. She just wanted to date bike messengers.

The boy was persistent! And the girl kept him around, because she thought he might know interesting people. “Let’s be friends.” So the boy and the girl spend more time together. There is whiskey. And cheap sushi that does not smell fresh, like the tide. The Fourth of July. Something happens. The girl starts to have feelings for the boy. The boy is not surprised.

Things get serious.

There is some travel of course, mostly road trips. California is one. The desert is another. A wedding. New York. Things go well on these trips. Things go well generally, in the way that makes more seem possible. So the boy and girl try more. Not with a toe in cold water but a cannonball into a summer lake. They say they’ll be gone traveling for a year but the year takes seventeen months.

In these months they see sixteen American states and eleven different countries. Even China. It turns out that Chinese New Year isn’t much fun if you don’t get invited home by a Chinese family.

When it’s time for the boy and girl to return home, they are understandably nervous. Things feel different. Colors, smells, sounds, even 7 Eleven signs remind them of new things. Everything about the world looks different to them now. Everything except each other.

The last night of their trip is longer than expected. Hours usually pass quickly in a nice hotel, but these hours are slow. Luxurious. Important. The boy says some things that are unrehearsed. The girl is flush, she replies that she wants a good story to tell her grandchildren. This is the story, he says.

One knee, the boy is on one knee!

Then they are crying.

Then, they are engaged to be married.