mixed signals

     

I love hay bails.  I started to fall in love with Colby on top of a hay bail in Memphis, TN during the summer of 2000.  Of course, as we were on the hay bail, Colby was asking me (for the 5th time) if I saw any hope in the future for a relationship between us and I was explaining to him that I was not interested in ever dating him nor marrying him or anyone else for the matter.  Exclusive relationships were like a prison to me, and instead, I was heading to the jungles of Ecuador to be a single missionary.   I graciously offered him the opportunity to be my neighbor, but boyfriend/eventual husband was truly out of the question.  He kindly listened while he was rejected for the fifth time.  As the night got later and my soliloquy continued, I found myself cuddled up next to him as I explained my future intentions.  He wasn't sure what to do with this mixed message, but he somehow found enough strength to ask me for the final time on September 1st, 2000, if there was any hope for us.  At 5:00 p.m. I had said no, but after sitting through a rain shower, a sunset, and twilight, I finally confessed under a star-studded sky that  I needed him and wanted to be with him. On September 1st, 2001, wedding bells were ringing, and now...well...let me just conclude by saying that every time I see a hay bail I have to smile.