A Love Story

I should have posted this yesterday - but... I didn't.

Twenty years ago yesterday I came home from my semester in London. I had a wonderful time while I was there and made some great friends (one of whom I'm still in touch with - in fact I got her Christmas card today with a great picture of her two little boys - but I digress). But I was ready to come home. It was a week before Christmas and I was eager to see my family and friends again.

I particularly wanted to see my boyfriend again. You see, we'd been dating for six months (to the day) when I flew off to Europe. We hoped things would last between us - but together six months - and then separated for three - who could be sure.

We wrote lots of letters while we were apart. The postman delivered mail to our London home twice a day - and I always looked forward to mail time. I would get a letter from my boyfriend about every three or four days. And I wrote him just as frequently. We wrote about things that maybe we wouldn't have talked about if we were hanging out on campus together. In a lot of ways we grew even closer through our letters.

I called him a couple of times. He couldn't call me - we didn't have a phone - but my parents agreed to pay for a few transatlantic calls to him (I was using their calling card). I made the calls from one of those famous red phone booths one used to see all over England. A few of the windows in the booth were broken, and it was cold. The phone calls were necessarily short - and a little awkward. I always ended up missing him more when I got off the phone.

But then I came home. I had an enthusiastic reunion with my parents, brothers and grandmother. And I called him and I let him know I was back.

When he got to our house I literally ran into his arms. I never knew how good it would feel to be back with someone again. I hadn't realized how in love with him I was.

This Christmas we'll celebrate our 21st Christmas together. And in May we'll have been married for 14 years. Because once I was back with him, I never wanted to be separated again. And that's my Christmas love story.