Patrick "Sean" Grabbe

I had known Sean for a while. One day my mom had said to me, "I think that Grabbe kid is cute." Well, I didn't have a choice, I had to cross him off my list cuz NO teenage girl wants to date someone their mother thinks is cute!

We were both swimmers and on long distance trips sometimes the girls would draw names and do something special for the guy the drew. This particular trip I drew Sean's name. I baked snickerdoodles. So, there you have it, our relationship started with cookies! I don't remember much about the trip. It was to either Lubbock or San Angelo because we only chartered real buses for the longer trips and we were on a nice bus that night. It was late, the swim meet was over and we were heading back. To tell you the truth I have no idea what drew me to go sit in the empty seat next to him. If I have to be honest, I was probably hungry and wanted some of my own cookies! I sat beside him and it was only a few minutes until he pulled out the cookie tin and leaned over and offered me one, with out a word being spoken. That sums up a lot of our relationship even now, 21 years later. Sean often knows what I want or need even if I don't always recognize it at first.

He was listening to Billy Joel on his Walkman. I was listening to something else. He had one of those adaptors so two headphones can be plugged in so we eventually were listening to "Piano Man" together. It was a long time we just sat there - probably at least an hour. There was a strong chemistry going on for me. It was funny, this was a guy that was VERY quiet and blended into the woodwork easily and I had never noticed much before. Now, suddenly I was feeling VERY drawn to him. I can still remember plainly when our pinkies kinda brushed each other on the seat between us. I think my heart may have skipped a beat when he reached and took my hand. So, the rest of the way home we sat like that, holding hands and hearing the words of Billy in both our ears. There were kids screaming, laughing, and acting crazy all around us yet were in our own little haven. The other day when I confessed that I think I am falling back in love with Sean? Well, I just looked up and saw him across the kitchen and my heart did that same skipping feeling it did the first time he took my hand. Twenty one years later he can still do that to me, even when I am not looking for it and sometimes don't even want it to happen. It is always unexpected and usually over something small.

I walked into my house that night about midnight. I immediately snuck into my parent's room and woke my mom up. I said, "I have to talk to you!" Right now I can picture her in my mind. She was sitting at the kitchen table...well, slumping actually, half asleep. I said, "You are never gonna believe who I held hands with on the bus tonight!" She looked right at me, grinned a bit and replied, "Sean Grabbe". JUST LIKE THAT! How did she know? To this day she just said she always had a feeling about him.

It took him two weeks to get enough courage to call and ask me out. I had given up by then, I thought it was just a one night incident. Boy I am glad I was wrong and he was just procrastinating. Gosh sitting here writing this I feel a bit of fear in my heart, what if he never would have made that call? But, he did and I didn't have any idea at that time that he would be the salve my damaged heart needed to heal.