A Love Story

I believe we are taught best by the examples of others, and I believe these others do not cross our paths by mistake. My husband and I met a woman, or should I say, was sent a woman to teach us the power of prevailing love and gratitude. She had every reason to be bitter, with losing her only son to a car accident when he was a teenager, and her best friend and loving husband of over fifty years to a sudden heart attack. Instead of harboring anger, she radiated joy at such a frequency that we felt it from the top deck of a Lake Geneva ferry boat as it returned to the dock to pick up this exuberant minute-late tourist.

The law of attraction would have it that she appeared right behind us looking for a place to sit, attached to her face a smile bigger than the lake itself. I scrambled to find her a chair and sat it next to mine. We sat and talked for the whole two hour tour, at one time actually being told to quiet down by the tour guide over the loud speaker. My personal tour guide was more like a shepherd, not only coloring me the history of the lake more thoroughly than a Fodor guide book, but showing me what a life of happiness could look like if I let it.

Towards the end of the tour she pointed out the finest restaurant on the lake, not so humbly perched, and fluffing it's feathers as if to lure in those who dare. Without the slightest hint of melancholy, she showed us the corner window where her and her husband used to dine every time they came to Lake Geneva. She was quite positive that I would sell enough of my newly released book to afford the experience, and I could do nothing but go along with that notion. We ended up dining together that evening, finishing our drinks on the deck overlooking the carthemus pink sunset over the lake.

I believe I have a crush on this tiny blue-eyed woman who came in to my life for a fleeting moment, teaching me a lesson that will last a lifetime. We all said goodbye somehow confident that we would meet again. I've never wanted to return to a vacation destination, as there is more world than I have time to see, but I have a feeling this repeat would be worth missing a new view or two!