How I Met Love, Sunrise Sunset, Part 4

Thursday, May 15, 2008, Day 13

I woke up the next day after everyone else, and could hear Shanam's voice down in the kitchen. I stood staring at myself in the bathroom mirror preparing for what I was going to say to his parents.

"I'm sorry I'm such an idiot! Normally, I know what's coming out of my mouth, but really, it was all your son's fault. He did it to me!"

I knew that wouldn't quite work, so all I could do was laugh, and hope for the best! As I made my way down the stairs, I admired the beautiful dark wood floors and gorgeous artwork hung on the walls. The house had a very classy, formal feel to it, but it was also inviting and homey at the same time. I liked it. A lot. :)

"Good morning!" I said cheerfully, as I entered the kitchen. Shanam's mother was getting dishes out of the cupboard, his father was trying to find the hand mixer, and Shanam was cracking an egg into a huge bowl on the counter. They all stopped and turned, immediately greeting me with warm good mornings.

"How did you sleep?" asked his mother.

"Do you like waffles?" his father asked.

I laughed and said, "I slept very well, thank you. And yes, I love waffles! Can I help with anything?"

Shanam responded, "No, I think we've got it. Just make yourself comfortable on the bar stool."

He finished with the egg and came over to pull the stool out for me. Only, when he got near, he drew me into a hug and said, "I missed not waking up next to you. You spoiled me yesterday."

I giggled and said, "Who spoiled who?" He let go with a smile and made sure I was situated before going back to his work in progress. It impressed me that he was so open in front of his family. It was, after all, a rather long "good morning" embrace.

"You have such a beautiful home!" I said.

"Well, thank you!" his mother responded. "We're so glad you could come stay with us."

"Yes, thank you! It was very nice of you to let me come!" I paused before saying, "I do apologize for last night, though. I really wasn't myself..."

"Oh, don't worry about it!" she quickly assured me. "You two had a very long day! Didn't you just love Ophelia's?" Not another word was mentioned about our first introduction.

I happily expressed how much I enjoyed dinner and how I could see why that was her favorite restaurant. Shanam and I then recounted our whole day for them, from sun-up to sun-down. As we talked, I watched in amazement as Shanam made the waffle batter using no instructions! The waffles turned out incredible, of course, and I thought,

"When is it going to stop? When will he stop exceeding my expectations and show me some sort of flaw! Even his parents are amazing!"

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for very long. I had to be back at work at 1 o'clock and we had a two hour drive ahead of us. After getting all my stuff together, we all stood out front by the car saying our goodbyes.

"You'll definitely have to come back for dinner, sometime!" Shanam's mother said, giving me a hug.

His dad gave me a hug next and said, "We can't promise anything like Ophelia's, though."

Laughing, I said, "Thank you so much! I hope I do come back!"

"Drive safely!" they both shouted as we got in the car and drove away.

I looked over at Shanam and said, "You have such wonderful parents! I'm so glad I got to meet them. Thank you."

"I think they like you." he smiled at me.

"Well, I hope so, 'cuz I really like them!" I said.

When we pulled onto the highway, we somehow got on the subject of everything we wanted to do or see in life. It started out as individual dreams, but the more we shared, the more we found ourselves exclaiming things like:

"No way!"

"Me, too!"

"I've always wanted to do that!"

I scrounged around, looking for paper to write on and finally found some bank deposit envelopes.

"Alright. Let's write down everything we want to do!" I said. "Starting with one we can already cross off. #1) Watch the sunrise and sunset on the same day."

Our list grew to 20, to 50, to 75 things, until we finally reached 100 things we wanted to do together! We finished just as we were pulling off the highway in Orlando and were amazed at how fast the time had passed! We had shared dreams and goals that we had never shared with anyone else before. Neither one of us took that lightly while we came up with our list. No matter how outrageous the dream was, it was listed.

We arrived at my house and he walked me to my door, carrying my overnight bag. We said a long goodbye, feeling sad to part, but comforted knowing that we would see each other the next day at the Orlando dance. I closed the front door behind me and literally felt a huge shiver of excitement run through my whole body. None of my five roommates were home, but I had to tell someone about my date! I realized that I hadn't told my parents about Shanam at all! My family lived in Utah and I usually called them about every other Sunday, but I knew this couldn't wait! I jumped onto my bed, laid down, and dialed my home phone, hoping my mom was there.

"Hello?" my mom answered.

"Mom!! Hi!! How are you!!"

"I'm doing great, Beth." she said laughing. "How are you? You sound just a little excited!"

"Mom, I have to tell you about this guy I met!" I began. I started at the very beginning and told her everything.

"He's just so amazing! I don't think I've ever felt like this before! For the first time, I feel like I have to do everything I can to keep him. Before, I have always just let things play out to see what would happen, but this time...I don't think I could bare to loose him!"

"Well, I've sure never heard you talk about a guy like this before, so he must be special!" my mother replied. Then she paused, "Is he from another country?"

I burst out laughing, remembering that I never explained his name.

"No, mom. He's American, born and raised. His name is Sanskrit and means 'peace.'"

"Oh, okay. The picture I was envisioning of him just changed dramatically." She laughed. "Well, you'll have to tell me how it goes!"

I paused before I said, "You can meet him if you want! He'll actually be in Utah with his parents in a few weeks for a short trip."

"Wow, you really are serious about this guy! I'll talk to your father and maybe we'll have them over for dinner one night."

After I got off the phone with her, I had to call my best friend, Bre, and fill her in. I went through the exact same story, but this time I remembered to explain his name in the beginning. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped up in Shanam that I completely forgot it was her birthday! It wasn't until after I had hung up, that I realized what I had done! I quickly called her back and apologized profusely, but she just laughed, saying that she would have done the same thing, too, if she had met someone like Shanam. :)