|
First Date
"I am my beloved's, and
my beloved is mine..."
Song of Solomon 6:3
June 7, 1982 was a Special Day—their first real "date"
together. John called Linda from Miami. Their voices sounded
wonderful to each other. The flight from Miami to Orlando only
took an hour or so, but it seemed like an eternity for both of them.
The moment had finally arrived...
Linda and Timmy met John and Sarah in Arrivals at the Orlando
International Airport. Both had secretly wondered to themselves what
would happen when they first saw each other. Would the person that they
had written so many letters to, be as they had imagined?
Linda asked John if he would like to drive them back to Sanford. John
took one look at her Chevy Impala Station wagon and the long "bonnet"
(hood) that seemed to stretch out forever and graciously declined being
their chauffer that day. All of the cars that he had driven for the
past three years were of the mini-variety. They held hands the entire
trip back to Sanford, while Timmy and Sarah got acquainted in the back
seat. Both Linda and Timmy were amused at Sarah's English accent. It
sounded very prim and proper and very English. John also used a
sprinkling of English words in his vocabulary, but he didn't have an
English accent.
A
lovely dinner of hot dogs and freshly baked pecan pie awaited John and
Sarah in Linda's comfortable apartment in the Mission's main building.
Linda, true to her promise, had prepared hot dogs for John. His exact
word after supper—"Delicious!"
Timmy had just celebrated his fifth birthday two days before John and
Sarah arrived. Linda arranged to take time off her work of transcribing
the Chronological Lessons from Trevor McIlwain's tape recordings. John
and Linda and each of their children were then able to spend quality
time getting to know one another. It was apparent, right from the
beginning, that Timmy and Sarah enjoyed each other's company. Sarah was
just 16 months older than Timmy was, an ideal age for a playmate (and a
new brother?).
Continue...
 |
