“You know I thank God sun rises and shines on you
You know there’s nothin’, nothin’, nothin’ I would not do”
Ba, ba, ba”....
Halloween, Halloween, Halloween”....
Should be one of my favorite holidays of the year, but I typically brush it off. Don’t know how or why I do, because it was this time, 4 yrs ago while at an Halloween party, in walked Tacoma Newsome”...the most amazing woman I have ever laid eyes on. I forget what I was dressed as (really, who cares!?)”...but I remember her like it was yesterday. She dressed up as a beauty pageant contestant”....Ms. Franklin County if I’m not mistaken. Light Teal blue dress, tiara”...the whole nine. So fine everyone there thought she actually won the pageant (me included), and just chose to wear it.
I remember being so intimidated by her beauty. Her face, that smile”...flawless! She grabbed my hand, and we danced”...and danced”....and laughed. The song that was playing? Before I Let Go by Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. As we danced, I realized I was getting all hot and sweaty, not from the miniature two step we were doing, but because I was NERVOUS. I mean, this was Columbus’ very own Tacoma Newsome, all 5’9″ of her incredible beauty. If you’ve seen how gorgeous she is reporting the news, imagine her dressed as a beauty pageant contestant, and you couldn’t blame me. The most alarming thing was just how down to earth she was (and still is), and how she LIT UP THE ROOM. I mean, seriously, she has a laugh that catches your attention.
This was the night I actually realized I had a crush on her (someone else had pointed out to me my reply emails to her, with a group of our mutual friends included, were full of signs of me being “smitten”, as they would say), but at this party, I realized I actually wanted nothing in life more than her. Yeah, I said it, a CRUSH. Like, the feeling you had in high school for the person you wanted to go to the prom with”...or when you were a kid and first realized girls were pretty and not “yucky”. It was like a scene out of a movie, when you see someone walk into a room, and time stands still. Yup, that’s EXACTLY how I felt when she walked in. If this were a stage play, she made an ENTRANCCE. Man, just dancing with her made my night. A month later, I overcame my own personal fears of rejection, “manned up”, and asked her out to dinner. 11 months after that, we were married. Lord, thank you for giving me the courage to overcome my own fears and self-doubts to step up!
My wife said it best: “It just goes to show, just beyond our fear is a glorious destiny!”.
She couldn’t be more right. I look back on that Halloween weekend of 2008, and I’m reminded just how EASY it is for us to take our wives/husbands for granted. We can get “complacent” in our affection, in our ability to realize this precious gift of LOVE God has placed in our hands, the responsibility to care for someone more than yourself. I’m always telling my wife just how incredible and important she is to me, but I truly don’t think I appreciate and comprehend just how incredible she is.
I look back on that chilly Halloween night, in 2008 when a beauty pageant contestant walked into my life and totally blew my mind away, and I realize just how blessed I am. My beautiful wife, and my Father who art in heaven, PLEASE forgive me for ever taking this love for granted in any aspect of my life!
And Maze feat Frankie Beverly, thank you for helping make the memory! I hear the song playing in my head, and all I can see is the MOSTBEAUTIFULLESTTHINGINTHISWORLD, with the MOSTINCREDIBLESMILE, and the MOSTINTOXICATINGLAUGH.
Tacoma Perry, you truly do make my LIFE.
Darrell and Tacoma Perry live in Atlanta, Georgia where Darrell crunches numbers for a Fortune 500 company and Tacoma reports for a local TV station. The two are committed to staying madly in love with each other and blog about their marital exploits at www.soulmatesoversoulfood.com.