Out of all my children, Zack has most consistently interacted with the opposite sex on a regular basis. I don't know how it happens, but he manages to find girls his age with the same interests: cars. Okay, it's just one interest. You have to admit, there's just something sexy about Lightning McQueen.
When we first moved to Ohio it didn't take Zack very many school days to start talking about his new friend Katie. At first, she regularly played cars with him. Then, the situation quickly evolved.
Zack's teacher began relating to my wife how she was constantly separating Zack and Katie. The kid would come home starry-eyed from school every day and talk forever about his conversations with her. At some point, the teacher had a conversation with them about the appropriate level of hand-holding at school.
In the last week of school, Zack felt things slipping away. He did the only thing any love-sick man would do when faced with eternal separation: he proposed. She accepted. They decided the marriage would be on a Tuesday since that was his favorite day.
Getting daily updates on the relationship from Zack and his teacher was the highlight of our day at the end of the school year. We knew she was a special girl because Zack has very refined taste. When we asked him why he like her so much he replied, "she was the only girl in the class that would play cars and hold my hand."
The first day of school this year was the most depressed I'd seen Zack all summer. That was the day that Zack realized that he was still in preschool, but Katie had moved on to kindergarten. And in a different school no less.
In any real situation that would have been it. Love lost, lessons learned. The aching of the heart healing with time. Not in this fairy tale.
Zack and Katie were meant to be friends and the Fates have sealed it. Today we attended a new congregation; the one where we will be attending until we leave Ohio. Zack was starting to get a little out of hand, but at one point he just stopped. He stood still and stared wide-eyed across the chapel.
"Mom! It's KATIE!!"
"Who? Katie who?"
"KATIE, mom. THE KATIE!"
There, across the pews, sat a little blond girl in a pink dress on the lap of her father. Who just happens to be Ben's new Scout Master. Yep. Destiny in motion.
He stood stock still for the rest of the meeting staring at her. He moved only when his brother leaned forward to block the view. Bad idea, Ben. Bad idea.
As soon as the meeting ended, Zack was off like a bolt of lightning. It was fun to watch him weave frantically in and around people while she calmly walked off the other way. She strolled out of the room and on to her Primary class before he could ever reach her.
He gave up the search and went to Primary himself only to find her sitting on the opposite side of the room. Again! Zack stared at Katie. Katie chatted with friends oblivious to the eyes boring into her soul. If she would only look up!
Then Katie got called on to say the prayer. That seat of honor was right by Zack. He was thrilled! He was visibly trembling as she walked over. He smiled his biggest smile, proudly wearing his wallet and 4-color pen hanging haphazardly next to his tie.
Katie walked straight up, sat down... and didn't even say "hi" to him. It was too much. Tears silently slid down his little cheeks as he held the rest of his composure. Absentia is a relatively soft heartbreak compared to oblivion.
Undeterred, by the end of church he had turned the tides. The next time I saw her, she and Zack had cornered Ben in the hallway and were making coordinated kicks at his shins. I can only assume it was because he'd blocked Zack's view earlier.
As it turns out, both Katie and Zack will be moving away from Ohio at about the same time next year. Will they ever meet after that? Who knows?
But as Ben learned, you can't stand in the way of love. That's how you get bruised shins.
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