That's When I Knew

My husband and I didn't start dating until about a year after we met. Our first date was a week after we got back in touch. He was on tour at the time, and back in California for the West Coast Leg of that tour. So our first date was in Long Beach. We spent the 7 hour drive and the entire weekend getting to know each other. Those first days in Long Beach were scary for me. I felt like our relationship was moving ahead at warp speed, and I was scared what was going to happen when things slowed down.

I also didn't know what was going to happen when his tour continued through the rest of the US. Were we cut out for long distance? Would we write? Talk on the phone? Or would he just forget about me all together? I remember going for a walk with him through downtown Long Beach and carefully asking some of these pressing questions. We were standing inside some surf shop, where I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues was playing. Being he was a blues man himself, the song fit.

He put his arm around my waist, and smiled. "I'm not really good at love letters or anything, so how about I just send you a postcard every week. And on each one I'll just write I love you?". We kissed, and at that moment I knew that it wouldn't be a long distance relationship forever, this relationship was going to last long after that tour ended.

The next two years of our relationship were spent with him on the road. I would join him for shows up and down the west coast. He would come home for a couple weeks, then back on the road for a couple months. It was hard, but we talked almost everyday on the phone. We fell more in love with every mile that stretched between us. I would play this song often on the nights when I really missed him. Eventually though, those nights apart passed. Sometimes though, I wake up in the middle of the night and reach over just to remind myself that he's there.