..it was one of those boring nights of tedious duty, studying for a mid-term. I have no idea what knowledge I was pursuing, or hoping to certify for the world, but I think it is telling that I only remember THIS about that night.
There was a knock on the door.
I opened up and a tall, statuesque woman fell into my arms. We actually fell onto my bed, not out of passion, but out of the mutual recognition that she had been through something terrible. That much was absolutely clear. She cried for several minutes without speaking. I remember this now, because she left snot all over my shirt. I became aware of this as she began to recover. Strangely, it didn’t bother me. I felt blessed by her need.
Now–back to 2019. I am 59 years old. My wife and I are having a good time talking about the farm and the family, but I have to use the restroom, and as I relieve myself, I think of the old volleyball beauty queen crying on me, leaving my shirt full of snot. I thought, “someone else got the love, but I got the snot.”
The thought made me laugh out loud.
I’m thinking about God a lot lately, and the Bible, and I thought to myself, “so, what do you do with this laugh, Lord? A beautiful woman, vague desire from decades ago, and a shirt full of tears she’s apologizing for?”
When I began writing this, I didn’t know what to do with this weird, absurd memory, but as I started in, here, trying to tell the story, I remembered..
“Wait. I actually did meet my wife because of this woman.”
..all things work together, even the absurd stuff.
