A Shock and Surprise At The Same Time

Never knew what shocked and surprised all at the same time felt like until now?

It was on a Sunday, June 29, 1986 and we had just left Dillard, Georgia where we had stayed the night before on our way to Asheville, North Carolina for the annual Farm Bureau Convention. I had looked at the convention roster many times before but had to look at it one more time. No matter how many times I looked at that roster I remained sad and empty inside because Christa's name was not on it. At that point I wondered if I would ever get to see her again.

We arrived at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC around 1 pm and checked in. I decided to go walking around the resort checking out what all there was to do. I started off walking through the lobby area following the signs to the pool which brought me to a long hallway. As I made my way down the hallway I came to an open area that overlooked the indoor pool below. I stopped to look at the pool area and noticed two girls swimming in the pool and then it hit me! (I thought to myself) OH MY GOD that looks like Christa and I took off running down towards the end of the hallway not realizing it was a deadend.

I stood there a moment scared and nervous wondering if it really was Christa? I thought if it was her what was I going to say to her as I was very shy. I was really nervous just thinking about having to walk back down that hallway and past the pool area again. I told myself that it couldn't have been Christa because she would have written to me telling me she would be at the convention. I was WRONG! As I turned the corner to go up the hallway....BAM! I ran slap into Christa who had jumped out of the pool and came running after me.

Talking about shocked and surprised!!!! What a way to run into someone you haven't seen in 2 years! It was still hard to believe that Christa was standing right in front of me and even though she was wearing a wet towel and her hair was soaking, she was still as beautiful as ever! It was so great seeing her......I was so glad that she had made it to the convention. My only concern now was did we still have what we had when we last saw one another 2 years ago............