A Date To Remember

A Date to Remember

I had never really believed in love at first sight, let alone love
before first sight.

I'd known her for months, talked to her practically every day, and I
knew that eventually we would meet up and it would be crunch time.
Could I really be in love with someone I had never met &;#8230;.
Quite frankly I doubted it very much.

When the time came it was earlier than we had planned, it was July and
we were in the midst of a barmy two week English summer. We had always
talked about September and I had prepared myself for then, so seeing
her that first time in July was a shock. All my plans on how cool calm
and collected I would be went out the window at the drop of a hat. I
walked into the room and there she was, right in front of me. Despite
the number of people milling around I knew her straight away, oh my god
that blonde hair and the smooth silky flawless pale skin. I caught a
glimpse of her bare foot and that was it &;#8230;. BANG
&;#8230;.

The love at first sight thing really did work and I knew she would be a
part of me for the rest of my life. As I walked slowly towards her,
hoping for some sign of recognition, our eyes briefly met. Mine
remained glued to her unable to see anyone or anything else in the
room. Hers moved on passing over me with no sign of knowing who I
was.

Eventually I was stood beside her and still could not say anything,
lost for words for the first time in my 32 years. Knowing that the
first words had to be special, had to mean something, my brain trying
desperately to remember how to construct a sentence. My hand had moved
slowly towards her arm, wanting to make that connection after so long,
but I dare not touch her for fear of the reaction I would get. In the
end she touched me, the tips of her fingers gently brushing my arm and
leaving a burning sensation I can still remember all this time
later.

Come on brain please don't fail me now .. say the words, say what you
have practised a million times over, okay so its earlier then you were
expecting but you knew the day would come and you have been over this
meeting so may times in your head .. please brain&;#8230;.

She still hadn't actually noticed I was there beside her, but in the
crowded room she was still all I could see. Eventually I was dragged
out of my daze as a third person walked up beside me and touched my arm
"Hi Craig, I'm Carol, we met earlier" I turned my head to Carol "We
did, oh yes Carol, sorry we did".

As I spoke she finally realised who I was and turned her head towards
me, after all these months she obviously recognised my voice even
though her understanding of the English language was nothing compared
to what it is now.

I could vaguely hear Carols voice in the background again.

"Sorry Carol I missed that"

"I said, its okay to pick her up, just for a short time, she mustn't
get cold and shes not managing to breath well for herself at the
moment, but its okay to hold her for a few minutes"

I picked her up and finally managed to say the words, not the ones I
had practised, nothing of any great intellectual genius but the right
ones.

"Hi Darling, I'm your dad"

(Dedicated to all the "Carols" of the Special Care Baby Unit, The
Queens Medical, Nottingham, England, who save countless children and
guide countless parents)