Once upon a time (doesn’t every good story begin this way?) in a land of flat screens, cellular texting, fast food and even faster living, there emerged a tale of two hearts – in some ways like any classic fairy tale love story and in other ways like a fine wine maturing over time …This tale began over nine years ago when two people joined with many others in spending a week at a camp for children with cancer.
I had just started veterinary school and was told of a place called Sky High hope camp (SHHC), a summer camp for kids and siblings of kids with cancer. It did not take long for me to say “Count me in! What can I do?” This camp, as it turns out, is a place where “camp magic” happens on a routine basis, little did I know how it would come to affect me!
In the summer of 1999, I was accepted as a counselor at SHHC. So, this one time at cancer camp… no seriously… After arriving at camp in the majestic mountains of Colorado, I walked into the main lodge to check in and noticed several attractive guys on the deck (an added bonus I had not anticipated)…. Apparently one guy noticed me too. Dan was sitting there and turned to his brother, a cancer survivor, now counselor and said “Check her out, I’ve got to get to know her!” After a week of meeting some of the most genuine people, incredible kids and playing in the Rocky Mountains; I knew I gained as much from the experience as the kids who attend the camp. Dan quickly became one of my best friends and with a free ticket from United Airlines; I visited him in Los Angeles after camp. I got off the plane with a 12-pack of “Fat Tire” (Dan’s favorite beer which he could not get in CA at the time) and so began the tradition of a dozen “guy roses”. I had only known Dan for two months at that point and made the reservation prior to telling even my best girlfriends – who told me I was crazy when I did confess. One even said, “I’m afraid I’m going to read about you in the paper” – but somehow I knew better. Dan says he knew right then and there something was special between us. Unfortunately, I took a little longer to figure it out – the blonde in me is a bit slow at times.
The next year at camp, Dan and I picked up where we left off. During our camp orientation before campers arrived, the counselors were having a traditional intense game of ultimate Frisbee. The score was tied and we were running out of time before dinner – we decided that with my speed and Dan’s arm a Hail Mary was in order. Well, through an unfortunate combination of a tree, gravel and change of direction, my ACL was toast. I landed on my back, Frisbee grasped tightly not breathing due to pain – but we won!!! Dan came to my assistance and for the rest of the week I walked around in an ACL brace but hey, if these kids with cancer could do this – so could I: it was just an ACL after all. The ACL brace didn’t stop us from swinging the night away at that year’s Sky High sock hop dance. Later, I had surgery and my knee is back to normal – but Dan certainly left his mark.
Dan and I briefly dated long distance but it did not work out. It took a while to get over the hurt, but we did and we would always see each other at least twice a year. Though separated by several states, we never stopped talking and thoroughly enjoying each other’s company when we did see each other. I know I broke his heart multiple times by saying “I’d rather have you as my friend than risk this by dating again”. Somehow he had the persistence, patience and heart to always send me flowers on my birthday and remind me he cared in so many other ways. Each year, parting brought changes to both of us in feelings and each year apart brought life changes in moves, careers and growing older in maturity and wisdom. And even as the saying goes, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ – the fact may more have been equally as much, ‘Absence makes the friendship stronger’. The bond that strengthened each year and during occasions when we both were in the same place at the same time rivaled the traditional movie of romance that neither person realized until
I had not talked to Dan for about 6 months before SHHC 2008. This year, camp was a roller coaster of emotions and though Dan again told me how much he had always and will always love me, I was reluctant to move forward despite knowing something had changed between us. During camp, one of our mutual friends stated to me one night that she had heard Dan got married that spring of 2008. My heart was broken and though I pulled out my best ex-cheerleader smile and said “surely he would have told me” I made an excuse that I was not feeling well – camp food and all – then went back to my cabin with a huge question in my head and as the tears flowed I fell asleep. I knew without a doubt that I was supposed to be the one marrying Dan – if he was still single and truly meant what he had said. One caveat stood in the way however – I was awaiting results from tests done on a mass on my rib which the doctors were concerned was a tumor. I told myself that I would not subject Dan to watching me go through treatments if it was a tumor. He and his family had been through this before and I could not put them through it again no matter how much I loved and always will love Dan. I confided all this in my dear friend Lyla – at 70ish and our oldest camp volunteer but youngest at heart. She told me not to worry, it would all be fine. Luckily, she was right; after camp all the tests revealed this was nothing to worry about.
Dan came to visit me in Albuquerque after camp; we had dinner on top of the Sandia at High Finance and it was there I finally said OK; I’m ready to try for something more between us. It was there our romance began or maybe just entered the next chapter – the romance that Dan and so many of our friends knew would happen nine years earlier when we met. I am so grateful for Dan, camp magic and for the love I never knew was possible.
When Dan asked me if he could speak to my father, I smiled and knew…he wanted to ask permission not just state plans, he wanted to express his feeling toward me and have approval that did come with a nod, a smile, and a hug. Dan has asked me to marry him and our wedding is planned for this summer 2009, almost 10 years to the day we met. We will be married in the beautiful Rocky Mountains in Estes Park – near where camp takes place each year. Our honeymoon will be short as SHHC 2009 starts 2 days after our wedding – but what greater way to spend part of the first week of our marriage than to be where we met. It is funny how certain things in life come full circle. After camp, we will start our married life together in Los Angeles (where Dan lives) this fall and I eagerly anticipate seeing how the next chapter turns out.
Maybe in today’s’ fast paced world, a world of the quicker the better, a world of now or never, Dan and I have stepped back into a time of renaissance romance, a purpose with no constraint of time, and the knowledge that our bond will challenge the oak. Our love story may never be put in a novel, or a movie, or a television series – but for us it will be a red carpet ‘Oscar’ that will last forever.
“Not the end, just the Beginning!”