Deal Makers

In a class I had last semester, we talked about deal breakers- those points of a relationship where the girlfriend, spouse, significant other, friend, business partner, etc. does something that makes you think, "Whoa. This person is not what I thought he/she was. This relationship will never be the same." It could be something as small as wearing the wrong shoes or as big as what Dwight did to Angela's cat, Sprinkles, on The Office.

A deal maker would be the opposite: a moment when you know for sure that he/she's the one for you forever. In honor of our 22nd wedding anniversary, I want to take a minute to recount a deal maker with mi querida y bonita esposita Margarita (my red hot smokin' wife Margaret). This was a moment that I really knew God had hooked me up with a spectacular person to whom I was blessed to be married.

Now, all you people who imagine I'm fixin' to tell you about a day where we bounded across a sun kissed meadow into each other's arms and settled down on a blanket for a snack of Tomme de Savoie cheese and Pinot Grigio, prepare for a let-down. In fact, you just may want to go find a Youtube video to watch right now or go play Farmville on Facebook. You folks who have been around for a while will understand perfectly what I'm writing about.

Our deal maker occurred 19 years ago in Phoenix, Arizona. We were moving from Oceanside, California to San Antonio, Texas in a Ford Ranger pickup and a Mazda 323. After the first day's travel we spent the night in Phoenix and when we woke up I went out for a ride on my bike (which had been traveling in a rack on top of the Mazda). After riding, I took my little cateye bike computer off its mount on the handlebars so it wouldn't be stolen and stowed all my riding gear. After breakfast we got packed up and started to head out of Phoenix, making our way to I-10 to head east. In the car Margaret had the dog, Alex, and in the truck I had the no-longer tranquilized cat, Daisy, who was dealing with her hangover and travel anxiety by meowing loud enough to drown out Van Halen on the cassette player.

At some point a few minutes after pulling out, I was hit by the horrifying realization that I had left the little bike computer on top of the car. I frantically waved at her to pull over (no cell phones in those days, boys and girls) and when she did, I ran up to the car and checked my bike stuff to see if the computer was in there. It was not. I was hot.

In spite of the fact that I was a jerk to her about it, Margaret said, "Let's go back and circle around and see if we see it in the street." "Yeah, right," I said. I was sure the thing was smashed flatter than a Parisian runway model if we could even find it. But she insisted and off we went. We U-turned and went back and U-turned again and retraced our drive. Suddenly she jammed on the brakes and jumped out of the car into the 4-lane rush hour traffic and ran out in flip-flops between the cars and rescued the miraculously undamaged bike computer among the honks of impatient commuters. I was astounded by this woman who I did not deserve to have and it obviously made a big impact on me.

If you're in the relationship of and for a lifetime with someone, you've probably got similar stories to tell. The deal makers are done when the sewage backs up, when the water breaks (both the plumbing and hers), when the car breaks down and when the flu hits. Go make your own.

I'm going out to buy Tomme de Savoie cheese and Pinot Grigio.