An Adventure....

THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL   by Sara Etgen-Baker

 

            “Bow to your corner; bow to your partner; join hands and circle left.”  Petticoats swished and boots shuffled across the wooden gym floor.  I watched the dancers from the sidelines, feeling once again like an awkward seventh grader at my first junior high dance.   “Allemande left……weave the ring.”  But once the music stopped, dancers dispersed as single men went to one side of the gym and single women to the other. 

       I stood with the other women clutching my empty dance card in my left hand.  As the music for the final dance began, a red-headed, bearded man wearing cowboy boots strolled toward me.  He extended his right hand then reached for mine.  “Would you care to dance the last tip?”  Without saying a word, I placed my hand in his and followed him onto the dance floor. 

After the last tip, he escorted me to the front door.  “May I walk you to your car?” 

I nodded.  “Yes.  That would be lovely.”    

While the flame red harvest moon sank upward, we sat on the hood of my car and talked.  His aura grabbed me like the moon pulling the tide, and the hours passed imperceptibly.  As the harvest moon sank downward, the morning dew formed on my car’s windows. 

“Oh!”  He jumped off the hood.  “We need to get to work!”  He extended his hand and eased me down to the ground.  “May I see you again?”  We exchanged phone numbers and went our separate ways. 

As with most new friendships, getting to know one another was joyous, magical, and transformational.  He gathered the pieces I was and somehow gave them back to me all in order.  Even after marriage, we remained friends and developed an extraordinarily strong, almost holy connection that became life-giving for us both.                                    

We’ve entrusted one another with our imperfections.  We’ve suffered through painful but rewarding trials and tribulations and learned to forgive.  Forgiveness became our friendship’s biggest gift.  Now our friendship serves as a profound reminder that friendship is the greatest adventure of all—full of risks but also full of endless possibilities.