A Love Story in Three Acts: Act 2, Scene 4

Exposition
Act 1: Cindy
Act 2, Scene 1: A Chance Meeting
Act 2, Scene 2: Summer of Love
Act 2, Scene 3: "Tuesday's" Night

"Reunion"
The last time I saw Amy, it was January of 2000, which was 17 months from the last time I had seen her, that being August of 1998. So, with that in mind, lets skip ahead another 7 months to August of 2000.

By this time, I was rooming with Michael, Shawn and Tom in The Deuce. I had already kinda sorta gone out with Leslie Cordell (which Leslie, nor even Stephanie, doesn't know how God worked in that situation)...) earlier that year, and hadn't really done much on the dating scene. I had also been sending out what I called Random Emails of Encouragement, a little God-inspired essay I would write from time to time. Amy was on my Encouragement email list, don't ask me how, and in one particular one, I had mentioned Sybil Johnson's Bible Study...

Let me 'splain. Sybil Johnson is a lady here in town that has a deep heart for high school and college kids, and opens her home up once per week for a Bible study. I had been going for a while--Michael took me--and its where I had met the likes of Tommy McLeod, Amy Vos, Jill Berthon and Shawn Sharp, who eventually became one of my Deucemates.

...and drew the writing from whatever had happened that night. I'm sitting in my room at The Deuce, and randomly, the phone rings. Its Amy. I sit up, and smile, "Well, hey, how are you?" and she says "Hey" back. We chat for a moment, all the while I'm puzzled as to why she's called me now. This is not someone I expected to hear from, like, ever again. Of course, I laughingly ask the question that I ask all girls who have been dating awhile... "You married yet?"

Silence.

Suddenly, there is uncontrollable sobbing and crying on the other end of the phone. "Hey hey... calm down," I say softly. "Amy, what's wrong?" She tells me that she and Craig have broken up. My first question should have been "Why are you calling me?", but I knew the answer to this question already. I simply say, "Calm down... talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

She starts telling me the story of how she and Craig had split, and it wasn't pretty at all. I do remember details, but honestly, its not important here... I ask her if she is in Tuscaloosa, and she says yes, and then I ask her if she wants me to come to her. Initially, she says yes, and I'm already putting socks on, but then she stops and says, "No... don't do that. Its too late tonight. I just wanted an ear to cry into." I ask her if she's sure, and she says yes... then she asks me about Sybil's Bible study, and if we can bring guests. I told her, "Of course. Would you like to come?" She says she would, and we set it up for her to come to Birmingham in a few days for Bible study.

I hung up the phone and collapsed into my pillow. You have to be freakin' kidding me, God. You have to be kiddin' me.

I have butterflies the size of Hyundais when she pulls up in The Deuce parking lot. I watch her walk down the sidewalk and disappear in the doorway to our building... I take a deep breath and open the door before she can even knock. My heart melts and flies at the same time as the only girl, at the time, I'd ever loved stood before me.
We go to Bible study, have a good time, I mention in prayer requests that "I have a friend who's really having a hard time with her life right now" (to which Amy smiles and squeezes my hand--she knew I was referring to her) and we come back to The Deuce.

As I walk her out, we stand in the parking lot and she begins to open up about Craig. Finally, we sit on the curb, as we talk for about three hours, 'til early in the morning. I finally ask her two questions... first, why call me? She answered like I thought she would... "Because I knew of all the people in the world, you'd be there for me, David. Somehow I knew you would."

Then I ask the killer question... "Why did you drop me? Why, after all we had that summer, did you just leave me in 1998? Amy, you broke my heart."

She had a sad look in her eye, and simply said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for all of it. You were perfect. You were everything I needed, everything I wanted, but I was just stupid, and I didn't know how to handle it. I figured the best thing to do was just not talk to you anymore, and it would all go away. I'm so sorry I hurt you... I'm so, so sorry."

I looked at her. "I want to be your friend, Amy. I want to be here for you." She smiled and said, "I really need that. I really need you to be there for me, more than anything right now." The smile left my face and I continued, "But if you leave again, if you drop me again, if you decide that you don't want me anymore, even as your friend, don't ever come back. Don't call me anymore. I don't know that I could take it." (truthbeknown, at the time she could have dropped me and returned a year later, then repeated this process five times over and I still would have been there for her... again, at the time)

Yes, yes, this sounds like a script from a movie. Or a cheesy romance novel. But this is what transpired in The Deuce parking lot in September of 2000, right around the time my future wife Stephanie was about to turn 23.

I had never been to a real college football game, or at least one that didn't happen in Troy, so Amy decided to fix that. She took me to the Alabama-Ole Miss game, and I got to sit in the student section--and it was awesome. I was rooting for Alabama because I picked them in this football game we started that same fall, The DFC, though I didn't let her know thats why I was cheering them on.

All through the fall, we hung out several times, had phone conversations that lasted until early morning time, and generally, it was a good fall. While I wasn't dating Amy--I didn't feel right about moving in so quickly after Craig left her, so I was being patient--I didn't go out with anyone else either. There was this cute girl named Stephanie Campbell that came to Sunday School one Sunday, but she never came back. Mostly, it was just hanging out with Amy.

The 2000 Election was that November, and Amy was there with myself, Shawn, Tom, Mikey, Drew, Ty and a few other people, and I was about to pass out. Shawn had started talking to Amy in his room, and it kind of agitated me--she was my guest, darn it--so I just went to bed. About 2am, she knocked on my door and came in. "Sorry about that... Shawn was just talking away..." she smiled. I let my frustrations be known, how I understood that all the guys liked her here, and she liked all the guys... but I really wanted her time. She smiled and said, "Don't worry... you and I have a history. Nothing's going to come between that."

She also got us tickets to the Iron Bowl, my first one. Michael, Wookiee, Tom and Shawn all came for $50 per ticket, but Amy covered mine... hey, we had history. Auburn won a cold, miserable 9-0 game, and we cheered, even in the midst of the Bama student section. Looking back, its a wonder we didn't get shot. Amy was quite frustrated with all of us, especially me, for doing this... I couldn't help it.

Finally, in January, I was watching television. We were still recovering from the 50+ people we had in our apartment for the first Deuce Christmas Party, one which Amy couldn't make, so the place was still a mess. Amy had emailed me something, I don't remember what, but something snapped in me. This was it. I was tired of dealing with it, I was tired of thinking about it, so I just picked up the phone.

"Hello?"
"Hey Amy"
"Oh, hey Dave, whats up?"
"I gotta talk to you for a second"
"Is everything okay?"
"Yes, just listen."
And with that, with Shawn thumping the bass two rooms over and Mikey and Tommy watching tv in the next room, I said the following:
"Amy, I love you. I've been in love with you since that night we had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. Maybe even before that, I dunno. I just know it broke my heart into a thousand pieces when you suddenly quit talking to me in Summer 98... (she started to say something, but I cut her off)... no, let me say this. It broke my heart, and I thought I was done with you, but when I saw you that night, I knew how I felt. And when you called me last September, it all came back. I almost don't care what you'll say to this... I actually want you to tell me its never going to happen, just so I can stop hoping and move on with my life, but there. I'm in love with you. I said it."

Silence.

"Wow... I don't know what to say...I..."
"Well, you can say that its never going to happen between us, for starters. Then, I can move on. Anything else, though perhaps welcome, would be really complicated."
"I... I, uh... you caught me off guard, David...."

Now, with that, the conversation ended pretty quickly. She was stunned. I was stunned that she didn't know any of this. Was she that blind?

I hung up the phone and smiled. I had said it. To me, it was over. If she loved me, she would have said so, right? I could move on, marry, make kids and live a happy life. She called me back a few days later.

And she said the following:
"David, I've been thinking about what you said, and I wanted to talk to you for a minute. (I started to say something, but she cut me off)... No, you said your piece, let me say mine. It makes me smile that you love me. You have been so amazing. You have loved me more unselfishly than anyone I've ever met. Not my friends, not my parents, certainly not Joel or Craig or any other guy. Even when I treated you like crap, you were there for me... that's true love, and I thank you for it... even love you for it... But... its not there. And its so hard to say that its not there, because I want it to be so badly... I've prayed to God that He would help me feel that way about you... I want to. I know you would treat me like a Godly husband should and be everything I could ever want or need... but its not there. I've thought about this, I've prayed about this, I've... I don't know. I don't think its going to happen, but not because I don't want it too... but because God doesn't want it too."

You would think that that statement would be a daggar into my heart, much like the one I had experienced years before... but it wasn't. It was a weight that sudenly fell off of my shoulders.

With that statement, I knew two things... yes, I loved Amy Wible, but I knew that I finally had total peace over the fact that it was not meant to be. And secondly, I knew that our friendship was close to running its course. After almost five years, the Season of David and Amy was over.

Though we spoke again on the phone, the calls became less frequent, until finally, they just went away. That February, she was my date to the first Deuce Date Party, and later on in summer, she did come to the WalkAbout Dinner Theater (middle school drama team) that I had directed... what was funny was that she and Stephanie Campbell sat at the same table, and later, with some other people, came to the Deuce. I had Amy and Stephanie in the same room for about half an hour... looking back, it was almost like Amy could have said "Hey, I've had him for five years... now its your time, Stephanie"

Amy did invite me to her going away party--she was headed to Texas to seminary, now that she had graduated Alabama. Both Shawn and I went. As the party wound down, I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek--the first time I'd ever kissed her--and said goodbye. And that "goodbye" was not for the night... but for all.

And though I spoke to her a few times after that, that night was the last time I ever saw Amy Wible.

Next: Act 3, Scene 1... "The Campbell Connection"

We Want the Funk(hauser)! - My Night at Graduation

Okay, so before we get into this, let me tell you about my high school graduation. Here's a complete list of the Samson High School Class of 1993:

Beth Adkison, Greg Avant, Jonathan (Avery) Baine, Traci Baine, Lydia Cade, Michael Creech, Yours Truly, Clay Fulford, Dennis (Wade) Fulford, Shane Gillis, Brian Green, Rodney Hornsby, Sherella Hornsby, Misty Kimble, Cathy King, Drew King, John Knowles, Michael Knowles, Jennifer Lambert, James (Anthony) Landingham, Leslie Lane, Jan Lolley, Wendy Marsh, Chris McCall, Stan McDuffie, Jonathan (Buckshot) Medley, Victor Miller, Christie Mock, Kecia Morgan, LaToya Morgan, Stephanie Phillips, Monty Powell, Brandie Schertel, Felicia Farris Simmons, Jason Slay, Jason Smith, Joey Stephens, Daniel Stephenson, Tammy Thomas, Pamela (Nicki) Vann, Susan Ward, Tammy Ward, Toney (Chad) Ward, Jackie Warren, Leslie Whigham, Shannon Williamson and last but not least, Tonya Windham.

Thats it. That's all. When we graduated on May 23rd, 1993, we sat in chairs on the football field... when our names were called, we got up our of our chairs, walked up the steps, recieved our diploma, shook hands, took a picture, walked back down and then had a seat. Then, the next person was called. The whole thing, including a prayer (!), addresses from both Salutatorian & Valedictorian, awards and the aformentioned diploma process, lasted somewhere in the neighborhood of about 45 to 50 minutes.

This is only important because its in stark contrast to the 2 hour, 400 Senior graduation I attended last night for Oak Mountain High School. It was the first high school graduation I'd been too since the Class of '99, when I saw Stephanie Knipp, Ginger Thomas, Leslie Cordell, Hillary Kelly, Alyssa Guy and Megan Bryan graduate. Last night, I was at Bartow Arena on UAB's campus to see Kourtney & Kandice Kelley and Jaci Gresham graduate, and it was pretty entertaining, let me tell you.

I think what surprised me is that were like, a combined 187 valedictorians and salutatorians. Our version of the "Honor Court" was the "Top Ten Seniors", which consisted of Jason, LaToya, Leslie, Stan, Jennifer, Stephanie, Yours Truly, Misty, Tonya and Daniel. Jason was our Valedictorian, LaToya was our Salutatorian. None of this 580 Valedictorians, or 74 Salutatorians... I personally think you should have one of each, 1st in the class and 2nd in the class, and everyone else above a certain GPA (maybe 3.5? 3.8?) gets to be part of an honor court, or whatever you want to call it.

Of course, that takes nothing away from Kandice (a valedictorian) or Kourtney (a salutatorian) who, along with Jaci Gresham, cause they are all smarter than I am, I'll admit.

Why list all the names above? Wanted to show you that I truly did graduate with 45 people. You could count 47 names, but from what I gather, Brian Green & Drew King didn't really graduate. Samson High let them walk as a tribute to their combined 11 years from 9th to 12th grade. I'm not making this up.

Okay, back to Oak Mountain... they had, from what I counted, about 400 kids walking the stage to collect their diploma. I was supposed to meet up with my old friend Dana Mitchell, who was sitting with Jaci's family, but for whatever reason, the number I had for Dana was incorrect. So, when I got to the Arena downtown, I just sat next to one of the entrances where the b'ball players usually come out. Lucky for me, it was one of two places where graduates gathered to walk out. At 7pm, they began to play the great hip hop classic "Pomp & Circumstance", and the graduates began to walk out. I got to see Kandice & Jaci, as well as Leigh Pegg, Jenifer Lewis (a name I hadn't heard in a long time) and Shannon McGahan, who is now dating my bro-in-law Tyler--yes, she's a senior, he's a junior, the whole older woman thing is working for him.

Before we go on, and before you begin to think of me as some sleaze for being there only to see some 17 to 18 year old females graduate, know that all of these kids, except for Shannon, were on my drama team way back in the day, at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship). I've known most of these kids since they were in 6th or 7th grade... and now they are going to college. Yeesh.

To tell you how this worked, they all walked in, there was some "Inspirational Thoughts" from Erica Marie Mihelin (when she stepped up, I actually said out loud "Heaven forbid they pray". It got a few laughs from the immediate people around me). They had thankfully short speech from Steve Martin from the Shelby County Board of Education (what, Hoover High & Spain Park got the good speakers? They could have called Tyler Watts or Ruben Studdard? Those guys aren't doing anything), followed by a scholarship given out, then they recognized the Vals & Sals.

Ashley Corinne Brown, was the Head Valedictorian, but didn't seem at all happy or enthused to even be there. She gave a cliche filled speech filled with phrases like "Chapters ending" and "new beginnings" and so on... I'm sure through no fault of her own, because I'm sure it had to pass through several sets of eyes for approval.. I'm curious as to what she might have said if given free reign. Then, Shaw-Ming Lin, the Vice-Valedictorian, spoke... I'm sure he's a nice kid and all, but when he started talking, I could actually imagine him standing in front of Simon Cowell, dressed like Clay Aiken, saying "I AM the next American Idol", and launching into "Because of You" by Kelly Clarkson.

I ended up sitting next to the parents of one Samantha Jane Funkhauser, who, besides the kids I knew, became my favorite name of the night. As they were walking through, the Funkhausers, myself and dozens of other parents who were fortunate enough to sit there, were standing next to the railing watching the graduates come in. When Samantha walked through, that led to Mrs. Funkhauser saying this:
"Samantha! Samantha! (looking at Mr. Funkhauser) Is she chewing gum? (looking at me) She's chewing gum! (looking then at Samantha, who was walking below us) Samantha Jane Funkhauser! You get that gum out of your mouth right now!! (looking back at me) I'm still her mother." For the record, Samantha immediately jumped out of line and spit her gum in a nearby garbage can before entering the big arena area.

So, some moments & thoughts that warrant mentioning, as I watched the proceedings--(besides the kids I just mentioned, plus Rachel Nicole Robinson, Annika Danielle Hindman & Emily Claire Arledge, I don't know any of these people)

--Oak Mountain Principal Randy Fuller was doing the name calling for the Vals & Sals, and ended up stumbling on only one name: Chandra Jayanthi Chakravarthi. When the diplomas were given out, he sailed through that name, plus a brutal stretch on the program that included Sotaro Sano, Eric David Schauwecker, Logan Alexander Schencker and Shraddhaben Rajendra Shastri.

--Of course, this success on the aforementioned brutal stretch was moments after he called out Michael Brooke Penn... who is actually Michelle Brooke Penn. You'd think that name he would master. Overconfidence. It happens. Especially if you are on the Crimson Tide football team playing Central Florida at Homecoming. Okay, okay, I had to reach for that one...

--They gave out diplomas to the Vals & Sals in another order besides alphabetical--wonder if it was class ranking? Anyway, then they started on the alphabetical list of kids, to which someone around me says quietly "now its time for the also-rans."

--They began with the normal "Please hold your applause until after all the names are called." This actually worked for giving the diplomas out to the Vals & Sals. Of course, this makes me feel sorry for them, and "also-rans" from Sarah Kathleen Alderson to Aaron Adarius Anderson... they got no love from the families, as I think everyone was unsure how much cheering would be tolerated. However, a kid named Nicholas David Antonio, who looked like he had Downs (no, I'm not making fun, I'm serious), walked across the stage and the place went bonkers. After that, chaos ensued.

--First it was subdued cheering, but as the Seniors went one by one, the cheering got louder and louder, and by the time we got to the L's, it was clear that no one was going to tell the audience to simmer down. So, some yutz in the upper deck started blasting this air horn, like you hear at sporting events. Everytime it went off, which was sporatically at first, everyone--me, the Seniors, the Funkhausers, the faculty on stage--jumped. Then, somewhere around Jackson Walker Moon, the air horn blasted long and loud. So here comes Principal Fuller, who says "Security, please get rid of that air horn." Then, he called out the section and row where the schlub was sitting. The whole place erupted in applause.

--Among the cheering were signs. When Gabrielle Grace Green got her ticket, her family held up big white signs with her name plastered across, each family member with a letter. Big family. Other families had signs too.

--Jonathan Wayne Guthrie was an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina--Mrs. Funkhauser told me so--which, along with doing a cartwheel on stage, got him a big applause. Then she added, "Samantha is supposed to go out with him later." Mr. Funkhauser smirked, "Yeah... I'm really happy about that." (Jaci later confimed that Mr. Funkhauser's hesitations were warranted)

--Poor Jacob Paul Gwarjanki had to follow young Master Guthrie, and I'm not sure anyone even knew he was up there.

--So, for a while, I was thinking that William Dorsey Ponder had to be the smartest kid in the building, even above Ashley Corinne Brown... I mean not only does he belong to the National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta Math Society, the Foriegn Language Honor Society and he's a Valedictorian, he's in the National Forensic League Honor Society! I'm thinking he's a genius in anatomy, and medical forensics and autopsies and everything else... imagine my let down when I see that the National Forensic Honor Society is really about leadership in youth. I watch too much CSI.

--By the way, when did they do away with the practice of having a class song? Is this only small school tradition? Ours was "Its So Hard to Say Goodbye To Yesterday" by Boyz II Men, a great ballad about death. Comforting. Though I will say that "Freebird" was almost the winner... somehow, good taste won out. I wanted "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart, but everyone looked at me like I had two heads. I liked our song, though... it was better than the class before us, which had "Friends" by Michael W. Smith. Incidentally, the Class of 94 had "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, a great ballad about... death.

--Kourtney told me later that when the Senior Singers got up to sing the alma mater, someone in the class actually yelled "Freebird!" Its good to know that redneck will never die. I'll bet out of 400 students, about 390 of them didn't know the alma mater (and probably 200 of them didn't know that OMHS had an alma mater)

With 400 graduates come 400 names... and I'd be remiss if I didn't give you some of my favorites:

• Samantha Jane Funkhauser, my favorite name of the night. If I were a Funkhauser, when I got to college, I would totally plaster on my dorm door, in big letters, "The Funk Hause". And it would be cool.
• My second favorite name of the night was Edward Dickson Hicks, VI. Thats right. His name is Eddie Dick Hicks the Sixth.
• Loved the name Poppy Leigh Tidwell. Poppy Leigh sounds so uppity, but there's nothing like remembering your redneck roots by being a Tidwell. Maybe she'll marry someone named Worthington and leave allf o this behind. Or she could marry the brother of Sarah Virginia Cox. (get it? poppycox? poppycock? ha!)
• You gotta know that when Joseph Edward Bobba was a child playing Star Wars with his friends, he always had an upper hand on being Boba Fett, if only because he played the "its my last name!" card constantly.
• Poor David Blane McPeake, Jr. His name was so simple and nice until that stupid magician got famous.
• Are we so preppy now that we can't just say "Cory" or even "Korey"? Do we really have to spell it "Khoury Lee Wood"?
• Na Lin. How can you not like someone with a name that my first name could encompasse?
• Heather Rebekah Hannah. Never, ever trust a chick with three first names. Especially if she's hot (I wouldn't know... I could only see her from afar)
• Annika Danielle Hindman used to come to our church (I used to call her Anakin, natch)... I know a guy who thinks she's the hottest thing ever, but would never admit it because it made him feel creepy... not anymore, though. She's a college kid now.
• The coolest potential nickname had to go to John Thomas Cubelic... being called "Cube"? There's not much cooler than that.

Alright, well, I'm off to Barnes & Noble to kill some time until I get tired enough to sleep (gotta be at work early). It was fun last night, and I give a big, hearty congrats to my girls Jaci, Kandice & Kourtney... I'm honored to have worked with you at church in drama, I'm humbled by the things God did using me, and I'm proud of the beautiful young Godly women you've become.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go change the batteries in my hearing aid and get my arthritis cream.