our story [part 1]

My life collided with Tim’s at age six.  Two years later I had a teensy crush.  Six years later we moved away and I forgot about him.  And another ten years after that, he asked me to marry him.

Would you like to hear the story?

My family moved to Yuma, AZ in the record-hot summer of 1995, and my parents vaguely wondered what they had gotten themselves into.  The natives of Southern California just weren’t used to 122 degree weather, after all.

But kids are resilient, and before long, my brothers and I adapted to the scorching heat with no noticeable problems. 

My mom, however, was determined that we would only live in Yuma for five years – just long enough for my dad to get established in his job as a professor at the local community college.  She couldn’t stand the heat for any longer than it took to walk to the car, touch the blazing steering wheel, and turn on the seemingly heaven-sent A/C.

We attended our local church’s congregation, and my older brother, Jeff, became acquainted with another eight-year-old boy named Timmy Devey.  I was vaguely aware of the boy named Timmy but my interest in Barbies and fear of the school bus largely drowned out any notice I would have taken of him.

Around age eight, however, I started to notice Timmy.  He went to a different school than I did, but I saw him at church.  I saw how he made the other kids laugh, how he seemed to be in the “cool kid” crowd, and how cute he looked in his church clothes.

Mind you, I was noticing those kinds of things about 90% of the other older boys, too.

But I always had a slight crush on the boy named Timmy.

The funny thing is, Tim tells me now that he remembers my little brother, Eric, better than he remembers me, because he was so loud and obnoxious.  In fact, he barely remembers me at all.  [Maybe I should have been more obnoxious.]

Here is a picture of Tim with his mouth stuffed full of marshmallows at my brother’s birthday party.  
And there I am two seats away from him.

Six years after moving to Yuma, my mom finally got her wish.  My dad had gotten another job in Prescott, AZ, and my brothers and I were [mostly] excited to move and start something new.

I said goodbye to all 36 of my crushes, and we packed up our things and moved in the summer of 2001.

I largely forgot about Timmy because there were just too many other cute boys to notice.

I do, however, remember thinking about him once at around age 16.  I bet if Timmy saw me now, all grown-up, he might actually notice me, I thought.

And then I quickly forgot about him again.


Continue on to Part 2.