Last summer, I received a phone call one summer afternoon from Steve Steffens. He had a blind date for simple cup of coffee and was pretty nervous about it. He’s been through a lot in the last couple of years and I was delighted he was getting out, meeting new people. I think there are times that we need that. New conversations, different people to tell what our favorite songs are and that certain colors appeal to us more than others. The movies that spoke to us, the books that formed us, things that make us laugh and those infuriating moments that make us fall into ourselves.

A new person to listen to and to talk to is essential.

They are getting married. Several cups of coffee turned into dinner which turned into two people finding that they need each other more than water and air.

Now if you are wondering, I asked LWC if I could write about this and he said I could.

Susan has a smile that could melt glaciers. She is also from my neck of the woods (Hoots is a state of mind although this time there are locational logistics) and her accent is like cool iced tea with real sugar. She is lovely and charming and the best thing you could imagine. She has an inner calm that touches everyone, including me. I am happy that we have become friends.

And I remember that call before he first met her. How nervous and anxious he was and how he was walking out of his comfort zone.

I know now he is glad he did.

Love is a funny thing. You never expect when it is going to slam the hell out of you. It is such an exquisite delicate thing and in those beginning moments, it whips around you like wind, tying and binding you where you see the sun in the darkness after a long rain. A rain you don’t think will ever end, but then it does and you see every drop of water on every leaf and it is painfully beautiful.

I don’t think they have a wedding date scheduled at this point, but it’s nice to know that there are good things happening in the chaos around us in this world.

The one thing about blogging is that without this blog, I wouldn’t know a lot of good people who also blog including the Memphis Steves. We are networked and aligned and when one of us suffers, we all suffer. Then there is when one of us finds joy, as Steffens and Susan have in a journey that began over a cup of coffee, we also rejoice their joy.

Never doubt that the bond is there between all of us because it is.

And we rejoice that life can be wonderful.