Small World, Big Impact: The Husband

Not MY husband, although keep reading...this one comes full circle!

I love revisiting these little snippets I wrote back in 2002, because I like to see how the Bekah of then was impacted by people just living their every day. People who had no idea the girl in front of them was taking mental notes.

And to this guy...this nameless guy in my mind, I owe HUGE thanks.

It happened while I was at Burger King having lunch with my mom. {Proof positive that such things really can be life changing in a good way.} I was in a hurry, because I only had an hour before I had to be back to work, and she and I had a lot to discuss in that hour! We sat down in the non-smoking section {Whoa!!! Those still existed as recently as 2002??} and right as I was about to plunge into my account of the morning's drama, Mom spoke to a man sitting at a table behind us.

I didn't know who he was, but he exchanged pleasantries with Mom, and before she moved back to our conversation, she asked him how his wife was doing. I could see his face out of the corner of my eye, and he broke into a huge smile as he answered, "Beautiful as always!"

I stopped, Whopper Junior halfway to my mouth. {And FYI, it takes quite a bit to get me to actually STOP eating.} I turned and looked at the man fully. It was obvious from the look on his face that he was as absolutely in love with that woman as he could be. Mom made a comment about what a sweet woman this mysterious wife was, and he rushed to agree with her.

I don't remember one more thing about lunch that day. Not one thing. But I remember thinking that when I'm old, I hope my husband tells someone that I'm beautiful. And I hope he says it even when I'm not with him to prompt the maritally correct response. I also wish I could have met this man's wife to see firsthand what kind of an amazing woman she was.

I was a good decade or more away from even HAVING a husband when this event took place, which was probably a fact I was better off not knowing. But in those days, I spent a lot of time observing marriages all around me. Some of my friends had been married for years but still acted like newlyweds. They preferred being with their spouses and talking lovingly of them when they were apart. Other people seemed to need a reminder that they even had a spounse.

Even in my singleness, in my observations, in my dreaming, I knew people thought I had unrealistic expectations for my someday-husband. But I wrote these words back in 2002: "I don't think it's too much to hope for a man who is hopelessly in love with me forever. A marriage like that takes work. And I know it will have its difficulties and trials. But if we can work to make it last, I hope that I can someday hear through the grapevine that my husband was telling everyone how crazy about me he still is, even though I'm old and falling apart."

Today I'd like to thank the gentleman in Burger King, nameless to me though he is, for becoming "the man whose wife is still beautiful." I want to thank him for saying that about her out loud, in a burger joint, to an acquaintance and her daughter. I want to thank him for loving and respecting his wife. And I want to thank him a thousand times over for instilling some hope in a girl like me that there could still be men like him out there in this world.

Today I'd also like to thank a Mr. Ryan Shaffer for being just like that man. I might not be old, but I think the Great Dental Event of 2014 and the Great Gallbladder Eviction of 2015 are proof that the falling apart is well underway. Ryan, thank you for making this dream of mine from a decade before our marriage...come true. I do hear through the grapevine that you brag on me when I'm not around. You tell me I'm beautiful when I'm standing in front of you, and you tell others when I'm not around.

You're proof that my dreams weren't unrealistic. Let's be the next generation of that man and his wife for all those crazy dreamers coming behind us. Let's make a big impact on our small world!