At the dinner table, thirty summers ago, my dad, the principal of a Christian school in Chattanooga, told an interesting story. He was walking near the football field and noticed a pretty dark-skinned girl with long brown hair riding a horse named Chief. Each summer, Jim Fuller, my basketball coach, directed a day camp where many of us worked. We were told we had the greatest job in the world because any time we had a break we could play ball. (In addition to this tremendous benefit, we were paid the generous wage of one dollar a day.) I was not working this particular week, but I knew the horses well. All ten of the camp horses were ornery, but Chief was dangerous. He was a fast quarter horse with a mind of his own. Suddenly, Daddy shared, the horse took off across the field and the teenage girl hung on for her life. As Chief reached uneven ground, not far from where my dad stood, the horse stumbled. The rider fell out of the saddle, but a foot hung in the stirrup as Chief kept running. My dad rushed to help the damsel in distress who fortunately was not injured too badly.
At the age of fifteen I fell in love with the lovely horseback rider and the man who rescued her became Susan’s father-in-law. We laugh each summer as we still find ourselves working at camp. (We both have agreed not to have horseback riding as one of our activities.) So in this first writing of a new school year, on August 4, I would like to wish my beautiful Susan ‘Happy Birthday’ and tell her that I love my sweetheart more now than ever.
Lover: “How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.” Beloved: “How handsome you are, my lover! Oh how charming! And our bed is verdant.” Song of Songs 1:15-16
I’m on my way to find what ‘verdant’ means…