In honor of my husband’s 50th birthday, I decided to post a little excerpt from my memoir (it will likely change before publishing) of how we met and where it all began. Enjoy!
The note, from the Paris stranger, read: “Fellow Cougar, seeks other Cougars to hang out in the city of lights. – Andrew, class of ‘96, room 115”
This was exciting, a boy I had never met sent me a note, it was sweet and innocent, I was curious. I am sure my mother would not have approved of me wandering into a stranger’s room in the late hours of the evening, but life is short and these were experiences of a lifetime, plus he went to WSU, I assumed he was harmless. I was nervous, but I knocked anyway, he wasn’t in his room, my excitement dwindled.
I went back to my room, kicked off my Doc Martins and crawled into the top bunk of my bed, still in my overalls, which I had been living in on this trip. Chatting with my friends before turning in, we heard a knock on the door.
I lost my breath, he was tall, his dark shoulder length hair framed his strong chin, he looked like he could have been in a Seattle grunge band. He was sweet, you would have thought he might feel awkward walking into this room full of people he didn’t know, but he sparked a conversation with the whole group.
We all talked for a few moments, laughed and exchanged stories about our trips. It was obvious my friends were starting to fade, it was late and the conversation was mainly between Andrew and I, they could see something was brewing here and we got the cues. We took our conversation to the hallway.
I don’t know why we sat on the floor of the hallway, it was filthy and dark. Why didn’t we go into the common room or outside? Anywhere other than the nasty, hostel floor. But that’s where we sat, and we sat close, my legs were bent, my knees and body were facing his, we were looking at each other and hanging on every word. We talked into the night, about our travels and our love for our school and the small town of Pullman.
I could feel my cheeks getting flushed when he complimented me, we talked about Seattle and all the things we could do together when we got back. I am not sure what we were talking about, or if we were talking at all, when I felt his hand on my knee and he leaned in closer, I closed my eyes and his lips were on mine, I was melting.
KathyGorohoff.com 