Breathing At Last

I remember the first day I saw him. He was at first glance mediocre. Nothing special. Just another odd man with dark curly hair and built with a heavy bottom. But when my eyes settled on him something pulled at my heart. I felt a smile spread across my dropped jaw. Nothing could equal that happiness I felt in that moment. Such unexplainable delight, caused by a boy in crowd. How unusual.

I managed to straighten my face and find my table amongst the others. It was my cousins wedding. Her groom and her looked so content at that alter and I found myself sighing with envy. Not of her groom but of her feelings. Perhaps of her dress too. It was a beautiful dress, an elegant ball gown. It didnt fit her but it fit the status of our family. She was a dear cousin to me. She deserved this day to be perfect. And from my point of view, sitting at this round table with a delicate cover over the dark wood beneath, it was.  

My eyes fell back on the best man. He was so plain, I wasnt sure what drew me to him. Perhaps it was his shocking blue eyes that stood out from the rest of his average face. Besides his strong jaw. I imagined running a finger over the stubble on that strong jaw. 

Clenching my hands in my lap, I drew my eyes away from him to my cousin dancing the waltz on the ballroom floor along with her new husband. They looked wonderful together. I heard a throat clear over my shoulder as I watched couples bleed out onto the dance floor to join the newly weds. Glancing up I found that same strong jaw, average features, and enthralling blue eyes staring down at me.

His eyes jumped from mine to the palm of his hand held out to me. I blinked in surprise, this man wanted to ask me to dance? Me? Of all people. I know Mother told me that I was very beautiful, but when I looked in the mirror I found myself disbelieving her.

He smiled weakly at me as if apologizing and began to turn away. I took a sharp intake of breath and brought my hand up to his shoulder to stop him. He halted at my touch and those blue eyes slid down to my hand still resting on his shoulder. I dropped it and held it out to him as if asking him to dance. His face split into a smile and he led me out onto the dance floor. My mind lingered on that smile. It was breathtaking. It was like, for once, I was truly breathing. This shallow intake of oxygen that I had lived my life performing was mediocre compared to what I was experiencing now as I stared at that fulfilling smile. Oxygen suddenly seemed to be so much sweeter as the air itself seemed to be tinted with a certain indescribable hue.

He held his hand out to the side and I placed mine on his shoulder. We began to perform the waltz together. His hand leading me and I tried desperately hard not to look down at the foot work to make sure I wouldnt step on his toes. My attention straining between his eyes and his hand on my waist.

"Forgive me, but I forgot to introduce myself." He smiled "Im Samuel Morrison." 

I smiled "Edith Merchantson." 

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," He smiled 

"Enchanted," I bat my eye lashes.

I noticed what I had done and blushed. He smiled and bat his own eyes to ease my embarrassment. I could feel my chest swell, he was the essence of perfection. I glanced around at the other couples, I was at a loss of words. What would I say to him? My eyes shifted back to my partner, trying to keep my attention from going to those funny little sparks igniting where his hand touched my side. I found him staring at me intently. 

His face broke into a smile as I took note of his eyes fixed on me. He looked away in embarrassment and my hand lifted from his shoulder and pushed his face back to look at me on its own accord. I held my hand out in shock over his shoulder, staring at it angriliy as if scolding it for what it had done. It was entirely in-proper.Especially in such a public setting. My eyes shot back to his face looking for his reaction to what I had done. A strange mixture of emotions seemed to cross over his face and finally settled in delighted bewilderment.

"Oh dear," I said breathlessly "I am sorry, that was... entirely inappropriate."

"No," He interjected, he looked abashed "I mean it was, perhaps, but, dont worry. I dont think anyone noticed. Besides me, that is."

I smiled at him and he returned the smile and sighed. We stayed like that waltzing around the ballroom staring at each other with somewhat comical smiles on our faces. When the song ended we had kept going, even as couples were walking off the floor. We hadnt noticed that the music had stopped. It had lifted our spirits enough in its short burst to help us carry on for quite some time. 

The father of the bride, my uncle, had to clear his throat when no one else but us remained. We looked around bashfully and Samuel led me off the polished wood floor to stand in the side lines. He held my hand tightly in his own and it didnt matter if it was sweaty and sliding in my grip, much like other boy's hands had been in my own. It didnt matter, because it was his hand. His wonderful hand that transferred energy from him to me. As if we were connected by more than just our entwining fingers. 

My uncle began to speak to the crowd. He was performing the traditional speech the father of the bride would give to close the night's events. I found myself upset. We had only spent the length of a single song together. Yet in that time I found out more about life in the depths of those crystal blue eyes than I have found anywhere else in my previous travels. 

The speech ended and he looked at me with those blue eyes framed in sadness, accentuated by his eye brows. He licked his lips and glanced around at the sound of his name being called by another of the groomsmen. His eyes met mine and he blinked as if straightening his thoughts out. He brought my hand up to his lips and bowed his head. His blue eyes still fixed on mine. He pressed his lips against my hand gently and drew back. 

"Until we meet again," He whispered 

He began walking away still holding my hand. Not until he was too far away to touch did his hand drop mine. Our finger tips touching until he was completely out of my reach. He was swallowed up by the crowd and I stood there for a moment. Staring at me hand where he had kissed it. I brought it up and hugged it to my chest sighing greatly. 

I always thought of weddings as magical. Two souls being joined by god and a priest in front of all their family to witness and share in the experience. A magnificent concept. Yet I never expected to derive something from it for myself. I came here to see the happiness of my cousin as her life  wound with her new husband's. But instead I found something marvelous.

I looked around me and the room seemed brighter from before. The glistening wood floors seemed to hold untold meaning as well as the grand carvings above in the ceiling. I found myself breathing in the beauty that surrounded me in my everyday life with more intensity. Simple things that used to be so insignificant seemed to shine brighter. Was this what the world had been like all this time and I could only witness it now?

All caused by a simple looking boy and a simple sounding song. Together causing a few simple combinations of footwork for me to see the immense beauty in this world that God had placed me in. A God, who had now given me Samuel Morrison.