The Beginning

 

"I just need a copy of your insurance card," I heard the office manager say as I walked down the hallway toward the waiting room.

"I gave it to them next door.  Can't you get it from them?" a male voice replied.

I grimaced as I continued toward the waiting room.  The physical therapy office where I worked was in the same building as an orthopedic surgeon's clinic.  Most people assumed we were the same business.  The office manager had to clarify multiple times a day that we were two separate businesses, and the repetition made her cranky.  

As I reached the waiting room, I listened to her icily launch into her speech about how the two businesses were separate and we needed our own copy of the insurance.  I stopped and waited for her to finish, looking at the back of the man standing in front of her window.  He was tall, with broad shoulders, thick hair. and muscular calves.  

After the manager finished her tirade, the man shrugged, calmly removed his wallet, and gave her the requested card.  

Wow, I thought.  He handled that really well.  He had not yet turned around, but I could see a quiet confidence in his posture and a calmness in his movements.  I waited for them to finish, then glanced down at the chart in my hand.  "Scott?" I asked.

He turned at the sound of his name and smiled at me.  My world shifted.  "Hi, I'm Heidi."

I had heard people talk about love at first sight, or knowing immediately when they met "the one," but I didn't know if I believed it.  And then it happened to me.  

He kept grinning at me, a boyish grin that squeezed my heart to its core.  "Come on back," I said as I mirrored his smile.  We walked side by side down the hallway to the treatment room.  I don't remember what we talked about, but I recall feeling instantly comfortable with him, as if we had known each other forever.  

I was a physical therapy aide, so I went to get his physical therapist.  At the end of his appointment, his PT had me set him up with some modalities and then walk him back to the waiting room.  As we walked side by side down the hallway, I felt my world shift again.  Something about us walking side by side felt significant.  I didn't know what it meant, but I knew it meant something BIG.

Company policies did not allow practitioners to date patients, so after Scott left, I checked his chart.  When is his last appointment?  Who is his emergency contact?  His final appointment was the upcoming Friday, and his emergency contact was a woman with the same last name who lived in Oregon, whom I guessed was his mother.  Perfect.

Friday came, and Scott arrived for his final treatment.  We chatted easily through the session, then kept chatting.  One of the therapists finally came and asked if we could move so he could use the treatment table.  Somehow, rock climbing came up.  I don't rock climb, and neither did Scott, but somehow the topic arose.  I thought he was into it, he thought I was into it, we were into each other, and looking for an in.

"Do you want to get together sometime to go climbing?" I asked.

"Hell yeah," Scott replied.  

We exchanged numbers, and I walked him down the hallway to the waiting area, watched him get in his truck, and drive away.  

"You guys are going to get married one day," said one of the therapists, standing behind me.  

I laughed and shook my head.  "No way."

"Yep," she insisted.  "You guys are going to get married."

I laughed again, but in the deepest part of my soul, I knew she was right.

Scott called me the next day, and we made plans for him to come over on Sunday evening.  He brought his dog, Maddie, and we went for a walk by the river.  Again, the conversation flowed easily.  We talked about our childhoods and hometowns, family, hobbies, all the getting-to-know-you topics.  I knew immediately that Scott had a huge heart and a special soft spot for animals.  His kindness and patience overflowed from his body like water from a fountain.  He made me laugh without trying, and his connection to the natural world was stronger than I had ever seen.  Under the kindness and compassion, I saw a drive to create and achieve.  This man lived and thought so far outside of the box, he didn't know what the box looked like.  Being with him felt easy, natural, like we had been together our whole lives.  

After the walk, we tried to find a place to have dinner, but the only place open was Domino's pizza.  We went in and ordered a pizza to go.  Scott paid, and as he was signing the receipt, the clerk said, "Oh my God.  Your hands are HUGE."

He was right.  Scott had the biggest hands of anyone I've ever met.  I could tell Scott was embarrassed by the comment, but he chuckled and shrugged, brushing it off with grace and poise.  Once again, I was impressed.

We took the pizza back to my house and ate while watching episodes of Family Guy.  We continued talking as time became irrelevant.  It all felt so easy.  Finally, Scott said he needed to get home.  There was no kiss, no hug, just a smile and a flutter in the belly as we made plans to see each other again.

As I watched him drive away, I felt my world shift yet again.  I knew this was the man I would spend my life with, and it terrified me.