Guest Post By- Dennis Elton Stanley

Sadly, most people in these days and age do not believe in love at first sight. There are many reasons for that, and I am certainly not here to judge anyone. Instead, I hope you will allow me to share with you why I do believe.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

The Power of Love

Surely, we can all agree that love is a powerful emotion, maybe even the most powerful. Love can cause us to do wonderful, fantastic, or even horrible things.

In Cheshire, England, on Sept. 27, in the year 1282, my 19th grandfather William Stanley (age 32) and Joan Baumville (age 21) eloped. For financial reasons, a marriage had been arranged for Joan with her stepbrother, but Joan apparently loved my grandfather (Stanley men have that effect) LOL!

So, during the marriage festivities, Joan slipped away to meet William who waited with saddled horses. They escaped to Astbury and were wed in the church by William’s uncle. These actions would bring much trouble to Joan and William, and the loss of her inheritance. But the power of love may be the greatest force on this small planet of ours.

They were married for life until Williams’s death 29 years later.

The Detention Hall

In February 1969, a young man of 16 sat in what was called “detention hall” at Westside High School. The school was situated in a suburb of Memphis, Tn. called Frayser, not the best nor the worst place to live.

The young man was serving a week there charged with gambling and smoking during lunchtime. This was not unusual for him as he may have spent more time in detention than he did attending class for minor crimes he may or may not have committed. He did not mind because he learned more studying on his own than in class.

But this day would be different. This day something would happen beyond his control that would change his life forever. This young man was me.

The detention hall was held in the school auditorium. Time there was supposed to be spent studying and that is what I usually did, study or draw since my favorite class was art. There were always thirty or so students in detention with me. I always sat alone but the others were in their little groups, as usual.

The Invisible Blond Girl

I heard a disturbance across the auditorium coming from one of those groups and I noticed a blond girl hiding behind one of the seats. There was shuffling and giggling, and I tried to see the girl behind the seats but could not. There were other blond girls in the group but the one behind the seat remained mostly hidden.

I thought about that girl the next day and began trying to find out who she was. One of the other girls from the group told me she attended another school. Normally that would end it, but I could not stop thinking about her.

Two weeks went by and then, I was climbing the crowded stairs on the way to art class. A blond girl passed by on the way down the stairs and as our eyes met, I instantly knew it was her (the girl behind the seats) even though I had never really seen her, her face, or her green eyes. Just then I was knocked down onto the steps because I had tried to stop in order to see her better and gotten run over by other students.

In The Beginning

The next day I made sure to be in that stairwell at exactly the same time. Sure enough, we passed and made eye contact again. But this time I raised my hand and said “hi”. She did not speak or wave back, but maybe she smiled. I could not be sure.

From then on, no matter where my class was or what was going on in my life, I would be right there on the same steps, every school day, same spot, same time. We would simply pass by each other, wave, and say “hi”.

I was so excited that she was waving back and returning my greeting, but I did not know what to do next. I had extremely poor social skills and was afraid to have a conversation with her for fear of scaring her away.

This continued for two weeks until one day she appeared in my art class sitting two tables behind me. During the entire class my heart was pounding, I could hardly breathe, and my neck must have gotten sore from turning around to see her and smile. After class, we met in the hallway. I do not know what we said that day. I may not have said anything, but from that day forward Elizabeth sat next to me in art class and “talk we did.”

A Magical Love That Never Ends

Elizabeth (Liz) and I were inseparable after that, and we married eight months later. Together we had three wonderful children, Andy, Angela, and Beth. Our lives together can only be described as exciting and “magical” until her passing four years ago.

I was inspired to write this story as our 52nd wedding anniversary would have been this month on October 31st. Yes, we were married on Halloween which is another delightful story for another time.

In case you are wondering, Elizabeth had the same experience. After her visit that day in Detention Hall, she transferred to Westside High School. She knew from the first time our eyes met in the stairwell that we were “meant to be”. She also changed her route in order to be in that stairwell and then transferred into my art class.

So, make of this what you will, but as for me, I know exactly what happened; A girl that I could not even see captured my heart from the first second she existed in my life. I would have never stopped searching until I found her. I never had eyes for another and could never have imagined this life without her. I still love her.

This is what “love at first sight” looks like.

– Dennis and Liz

About Guest Author– Dennis Elton Stanley- He is a Christian 69-year-old widower. Still working full-time as an engineer in healthcare. He competes in long-distance speed walking, hiking, photography, musician, and he loves to write. “I am very busy”- as he says.

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