Ivan's Story

This morning I was taking my power walk up through Summit Park when I met Ivan. I was just about to pass him on the trail when he struck up a conversation with me as a flock of birds flew overhead in a beautiful V-formation.

"Look at those birds! I used to fly like that," Ivan said. "In the Air Force. The Korean war. I was stationed in French Morocco -- North Africa." If you haven't guessed by now, Ivan is old enough to be my grandfather.

Ivan loves to talk and he started chatting away as if we were old friends. I found out that he had met his wife, Lynn, in high school. They had been sweethearts for seven years before they finally got married. But lo and behold, Ivan was sent off to North Africa right after their honeymoon in Mexico. "I'll never forgive my commanding officer," Ivan said. "He didn't have to send me there, but he did anyway. My wife and I were separated for a whole year. And that flight to North Africa over the Atlantic Ocean was the worst flight I ever had, and I've flown a lot!"

We walked together, total strangers, as Ivan told me about his adventures in North Africa. "We lived in plywood buildings in the desert. The temperature reached 117 degrees. Except on some days it would be 125 degrees."

My job was to listen, to offer a kind ear to an elderly man with tales to tell. He also recounted how a long time ago he took his wife on her first night flight and how "she was like a kid in a candy shop. Her face was glued to the window. She loved the lights." His wife is still alive, too, and works as a librarian at a local junior high!

Ivan said that when he and his young wife were finally back together they had four children. Her doctor had said jokingly to Ivan, "hey, take it easy on her, already!" Now they have several grand kids, too. Even great grand kids!

As I've been writing about love stories, I thought Ivan's story was the epitome of
romance. A newly married couple separated for a year and then finally reunited as he came off an airplane in New York. Their resilience in the face of early hardship. I couldn't help noticing, too, how whenever he spoke of his beloved, he had a certain twinkle in his eye.

What a privilege it was to meet and hear Ivan's story. In a world of instant gratification, here was an example of a true happily ever after. Disney couldn't have written it better.

We had to part ways at the end of the trail -- I was heading south and he, north. We shook hands and exchanged names. Ivan made me think about romance as a long distance race. How glorious it is to first fall in love and get those initial flutters in the stomach. But to hang in there over the years, raise a family, and still have that twinkle in the eye is as romantic as it gets!