I followed her out to the parking lot, thankful on her behalf that she was wearing a dark pair of sweatpants because she wasn't kidding about being more than a little wet...
Exiting the building, she turned back to me and said with a smile, "I live 10 minutes from here, you can just follow me. I'm this white car, right over there."
As if to confirm that this wasn't all just some crazy dream, she leaned in close to quickly kiss me and whisper in my ear, "I have waited SO long for this day to be here..." Oh, I wanted to hold her in front of Panera in the middle of God knows wherever the hell I am, I was so thrown by what was happening to me. I just stood there, speechlessly watching her walk away for a second before she sensed that I wasn't moving and turned back asking, "Are you coming?"
Umm...
Is that a trick question?
That broke my brief reverie, snapping me from fantasy to an incredible reality. I turned the other way and tried to remember what my rental looked like - I generally tried to get something similar each trip to try to help me remember. Rarely worked, but at least I had a system of some sort. I was a bit more motivated than usual to find the car today, so I began pushing the unlock button on the key fob at a rapid drumbeat. When it started to sound like a car alarm, I knew I needed to lay off of it - fortunately, the flashing lights quickly gave away the location of my car.
That drive may have been the longest 10 minutes of MY LIFE.
Fortunately for me, she was an excellent leader, never leaving me hanging at a light. Little details like that speak volumes of a person's character - such a random thought to have on my way across this town, following a beautiful stranger(?), headed towards who knows what?!? What the hell, I told myself, what is life without the spirit of adventure?
Little did I know...