THEN WE DATED

At the hotel, she had given me her number at her brother’s house. I waited for a couple of days... She didn’t call. Just as I was about to give up, on Thursday, I got a call from her at the office. She told me, “Hi, I am Lizeth.” We attempted to talk and stumbled through some sentences and she asked if I would be coming to Lexington that weekend, and I told her: “No, my friends are still going to be on their honeymoon.” She said, “Oh, okay. So are you coming to Lexington this weekend?” I said: “No, my friends won’t be back in Lexington till NEXT weekend.” And of course her response was: “OH, Okay. So you are coming to Lexington this Weekend?” How could I resist. I answered: “Yes, of course, I am coming to Lexington this weekend.” And so it began...

Our first date was interesting. We decided to meet at the hotel at 6:00. When I got there, I was surprised to find Pam her co-worker there to greet me. She informed me that Lizeth’s parents were nervous and had some stipulations. First, we were to have a chaperone, Pam volunteered to go along with us. Secondly, she was to be home at 9:00. Which at first, I thought: “This is a joke right?” But then I realized that they were in from another country speaking another language. So I understood and we decided to go for dinner. Since I wasn’t very familiar with Lexington, Pam told us about a wonderful restaurant at a bowling alley. We went along and had a very bad steak and dry chicken. BUT, the waitress was bilingual. It was the perfect place for our first date. Afterwards, we went to a bar that Pam suggested and it didn’t prove to be as lucky. Lizeth was curious about the pool table. After her parents put a curfew and chaperone on us, I was very nervous about any touching with Lizeth. She came across very pure and reserved, so I didn’t want to do anything to offend her. So Pam showed her how to hold the cue. The whole time, I was dying to put my arms around her to teach her how to make a shot. It was thirty minutes that took three hours. After the bar, it was time to call it an evening. I drove her back to her car and was still very nervous about any physical contact. She told me that she had a very good time and leaned in to kiss me ever so gently on the cheek. It made me tingle. That was the sweetest kiss I had ever gotten. I knew this was a special girl.




Other dates followed and we spent a lot of time getting educated on each other’s language. With Spanish Dictionary in the glove box, we spent a lot of time driving and asking each other how to say things in Spanish and English. We drove past a farm and I learned that a “Cow” is called “Baja”. She learned that “Baja” is called a “Cow”. We had a lot of fun learning together. We had a lot of first time experiences for her. Lizeth had never been Ice Skating or gone Horseback Riding. And I experienced a world of new culture as well. I was fortunate to eat the authentic food she and her mother prepared.


		During our second date, we went to a small fair. That is where Lizeth learned how to 2 step. We ate some pizza and started walking to the fun house. I asked if it is okay to hold her hand. She said that this is what boyfriends and girlfriends do in Mexico. So I asked again if it was okay. She nodded her head, so I held her hand. I thought at this point that I might be engaged, but wasn’t positive. But at the this date, I took her home and we gazed at the stars. She told me that she really liked the three stars in Orion’s Belt, then kiss (on the lips this time) good night. And each date afterwards, we would look for the three stars in Orion’s Belt before we kissed goodnight.

After we dated a while, I noticed that the new had not worn off like it usually does. I was looking for faults and wasn’t finding any. We continued to date in Lexington on the weekends and talk on the computer and telephone during the week. Then, after 6 months, just before Christmas, she told me that she had to go back to Mexico because her visa was about to expire. Lizeth was very sad. She knew this was the turning point. She felt confident that I wanted to continue, but the long distance from Cincinnati to Mexico was enough to destroy a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. And she was correct. But I told her not to worry, what is going to happen in the future, is going to happen. We need to live in the moment and have fun. Meanwhile, I was getting a ring designed in the shape of Orion’s Belt.