We are in Santa Barbara. It is November, and Anne and I are here for our anniversary, walking back to our hotel after the first romantic dinner we’ve enjoyed in months.
Though it is Saturday night, this normally crowded street is nearly deserted, because it is pouring rain. A cold, relentless rain that soaks into my shoes and clings to my body. The cold cuts straight through me, numbing my hands and feet.
The few people who have chosen to brave the storm are huddled in doorways and under awnings. Anne and I share a too-small umbrella in a futile attempt to stay dry.
It has been a wonderful evening, ending a wonderful day. We haven’t gotten to spend much time just enjoying each other’s company, just being together for several weeks, and I am cherishing every rain-soaked moment.
The storm intensifies as we hurry back to our hotel, turning downspouts to waterfalls, and the street into a small stream. Normally, the urge to stomp in puddles is irresistible to me, but the numbness is creeping up my legs now, and I need little encouragement to leave the puddles alone.
After a few blocks, the cold and rain is too much for me, and I suggest that we stop, and hail a cab.
Anne stops, and looks at me, her blue eyes gleaming. She says they’re green, but they’re blue…I see them whenever my mind wanders, so I know.
She steps out of the small shelter our umbrella is providing, and stands unprotected in the rain.
“I want to walk in the rain!” She declares.
“But it’s 40 degrees!” I remind her, shivering. A few passersby look at us as if we’re having a fight, and I chuckle to myself. They couldn’t be more wrong.
“I don’t care,” she tells me, her hair falling down and clinging to the sides of her face, her jacket darkening as it absorbs the storm. “Someday, I’m going to want to walk in the cold rain, and feel it on my face, and I’m not going to be able to. So I’m going to do it now.”
She reaches out and touches my cheek, and pulls my face to her. She leans towards me, kisses my nose, and walks away, her face cast upwards, her palms turned up to receive the rain.
She stomps into a puddle, and turns around.
“C’mon, you weenie! Walk with me!”
She is so beautiful, so joyous. The storm threatens to draw a curtain of rain around her, obscuring her from my view. Though she is twenty feet from me, I can see her beaming and feel her joy. She positively loves this.
I watch her, happily standing in the rain. In this moment I know why I married her. I know why she is the other half of my heartbeat.
But it’s 40 degrees. There’s no way I’m giving up this umbrella.
I lean against the rain, and close the distance between us. When I draw near her, she reaches out and knocks the umbrella out of my hand.
As it falls to the ground, she takes me in her arms. She pulls me to her, and kisses me.
“I love you,” she says, rain dripping off her nose onto my face.
She does love me. It’s one thing to say it, and one thing to hear it, but it’s another thing to feel it.
“I love you too,” I reply.
We stand there in the rain for a moment, looking at each other. We are soaking wet, freezing cold, and desperately in love.
188 thoughts on “We Close Our Eyes”
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Cmon Wil, admit it. This entry is just an excerpt from your “touched by an angel” script. It makes my teeth hurt.
Oingo Boingo does rule…Danny Elfman get your priorities together and get the band back together and quit regurgitating the same scores for the movies!!!! NO ONE LIVES FOREVER!!!
jz
May you please be the first canidate for cloning?!
I am sure that women would line up in numbers….
You are sooooooo sweet..
Thank you for a lovely post.
That was truly lovely, Wil. Happy anniversary, you’re quite the catch.
I wish my husband was home from work.
That is so sweet, I just had to share my reaction to your joy. That, and to say one more thing: don’t itch.
awwww, excuse me while I melt! That’s so sweet!=o)
Ashley
Your words paint such a beautiful portrait of the love you and your wife share. I guess that’s why so many of us admire your work…in whatever form you deliver it to us.
Hope you’ve had a great day!
Wil, you are simply an inspiration!
Thanks for being my “muse”! 🙂
Love ya, dude!
Uncle Willy, ROCKS!!!
I had that…maybe I still do…I don’t know anymore. But it’s magical when you have it, and I’m glad you do.
I live in Santa Barbara, by the way. Go to UCSB, in fact. It’s a fantastic place. 🙂
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
Heh, state street on Christmas day:
Clara, Alana, and Thal are walking down the street. SUV drives past. Person in SUV sticks their head (and, verily, half their body) out the window and says “HAPPY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!”
Next time you go to Santa Barbara, head up to Goleta, get off at Glen Annie, turn left, take a right onto Hollister, and a left at the street just past the 7-11 (I can’t remember the name right now, I haven’t been home in about two years). Go straight down to the dead end and park. If you go up the hill to your right, through the woods, you’ll find a path to the beach. Walking along that path, you’ll see some of the most beautiful beach views Santa Barbara. It’s right near the butterfly sanctuary, so in summertime, you get tons of butterflies, too.
I think there is something very magical about feeling so much in love in the rain (even if it is 40 degrees!). I imagined you “Singing in the Rain” as I read this post.
Thanks for sharing and Happy Anniversary to you both.
Oh, and for the record, last month–the November that Wil’s talking about here–Santa Barbara did indeed have a storm like he described, and it was at least in the lower 50s if not in the 40s after the sun set. Don’t scoff…it’s COLD here in the winter time.
This story just reminds me of the things I look forward to when I am married..the smallest things can mean so much.Darn you Wil…I am single and sometimes enjoy it and when I read this it reminded me of why I wanted to be married someday soon..From what I hear you have a great relationship with her and I hope that it stays that way always! Have you or will you ever write about how you both met and what brought you together? If you have already written it will you post it again? I must hear this!
Awwwww…*sniff*
Thats so beautiful
*wipes a tear that could never be there*
If if had a heart it would both flutter and crash at the emotional weight of this post.
Everyone point at the lucky, lucky man.
yay wil and anne!!!
*wipes away happy tears*
Thank you, Wil. That was beautiful. And now, more than ever, I can’t wait for my honey to come back from Germany next week. He’s been there for three months…I get to see him a week from tomorrow.
*sniff*
You totally reaffirmed the big crush I had on you when I was 10. I remember reading something in a novel by Tom Robbins (Another Roadside Attraction, I think) about rain, and how most people, when they don’t have umbrellas, hunch themselves against the rain, trying to make themselves smaller, as though to hide from it. It stuck with me, and this post reminded me that it takes a special kind of person to walk comfortably and confidently in cold rain. You’re a lucky man to have found a lady who can help you walk in the rain.
(first post on your blog – been reading for about a week. you kick booty)
Wow. How beautiful. *smile*
Lovely. And since it’s raining out and I’m a newlywed, you’ve made me want to pull my law student husband away from his books and go play in the rain.
Congratulations on your anniversary.
*smiles*
That was wonderful. You have an amazing ability to make me feel like I’m right there with you. You are very lucky to have a woman like Anne and she is very lucky to have a guy like you.
And just for the record, I LOVE walking in the rain. I have since I was little.
Cool! I’m printing this one out and taking it home for my honey to read. He makes me feel like this too! Thanks Will.
*stares at screen, mouth agape, stiffles sobs*
Wow – Wil, if we could bottle that – I’d make you (and me) werrry well to do ;-). Don’t stop.
Awww, Wil. That is the cutest thing like ever. *sigh* You know, when I read about you and Anne, I think how I want to be in a marriage as happy as that when I get married. Keep up the good work! 🙂
very sweet! I’m all moonpies and googly-stars now…
BOINGO STILL RULES
J.C.
Oh my goodness! That was the sweetest thing I have ever read in my life! I hope someday I can write as well as you, Wil.
I especially liked “She says they’re green, but they’re blue…I see them whenever my mind wanders, so I know.”
You da man.
You know, you honestly take my breath away sometimes. You are a smooth, classy man. You give us single ladies the hope that perhaps there are men out there who notice the little things.
Happy Anniversary you two!
raquel
Is this a kissing book?
Wil –
Thanks for provoking so much of the deep-down sappiness in just about all of these responses.
Warm love and cold rain are a pretty great recipe for an unforgettable night out; had one of those this summer — glad you guys had such a great one. Relationships can be so glorious…especially when there’s room in the middle of the romance for the word “weenie.”
I’d like to see you two try that up here in Canada. You think it is cold there. Try -20c wind chill. But anyways…..lovely story. Thank you so much for sharing it. Made me feel all warm and cozy in side. You both are a very sugary cute couple.;)
Wil,
That is just awesome!!!!!!!!!!
FG
Dear Wil,
A coupla weeks ago I left a post somewheres on your site that said that “We Close Our Eyes” was my fave Boingo song, because it always reminds me of my sweet and beautiful wife, and when we first met.
Thank you for titling your post today with this meaningful phrase, and for writing such a nice tale of love triumphant.
Yesterday was our third anniversary.
It was around 10 degrees here last night, so we lit a fire in our fireplace — the first since we moved into this apartment. Romantic, no?
“And if you love me
and if we really try
we can make the seconds count
then we can close our eyes”
Thank you. You da man.
Ohh! you guys are the cutest!!! But I know how you feel. My husband and I are much the same way! Isn’t it great?
Some guys get ALL the luck. 🙂
Right now, 40 degrees sounds absolutely balmy…
:::shivers:::
sure, he can write the mush, but he never knew what to do with his hands on TNG! Ever notice that? They just hung there all awkward and stuff!
Just joshing you, Willy.
Well, it is a bit long in the tooth, but Que Sara Sara!
That is the sweetest thing ever written here. Thank you for sharing, Wil.
Okay, I’m recalling that you’re an Oingo Boingo fan and thinking that the heading of today’s post may be in reference to a song they did with the same title. Then again, it could be in reference to a song with that same title by Go West (it was their first US hit in ’85). Of course, I could be wrong on both accounts.
Regardless of the reference – or possible lack thereof, your story was great. While I haven’t felt that way in years (nay, in over a decade), it’s only because I’m single. I envy you, Uncle Willie – not because you’re in love, but because you understand how important it is to relish that feeling and share it. Yeah, you’ve sharing alright – as you always do. I wasn’t sure I could like or relate to you any more than I did after the Aunt Val story, but this definitely boosted my WW stock.
You know what’s unique about this whole thing? Both this and the Aunt Val story are about love. One is about the understanding and depth that comes with loss, and this one is about the understanding and depth in just being alive and in love. Thanks for sharing, Wil. Believe it or not, some of us come here daily and though we may post infrequently, we do get it – and you.
Your fan,
Jerry
Hey, Wil, do you realize how many guys are gonna get lucky tonight because their wife/girlfriend/partner-in-sin read this post and got all googly-eyed? Same goes for the guys.
America thanks you. 🙂
As nauseatingly sweet as that was, I’d be pretty happy with 40 degrees and rain. It’s currently too cold to snow in Toronto. 🙂 Enjoy your love.
I’m speechless. Thank you for sharing such an intimate moment with your monkeys.
Ana Marylee
I needed that Wil. Thank You. =)
::sniff:: =D
Beautiful. Perfect. Love.
I have that you know. I have that perfect feeling for a person, but I’m not getting it in return. That’s why your entry made me cry. But i love reading entries like this anyway. Call me an old-fashioned sap. lol.
Trying to hold back the Sedaka…sorry…I can’t…keep…it…in…
“Ooh, I hear laughter in the rain,
walkin’ hand-in-hand with the one I love.
Ooh, how I love the rainy days
and the happy way I feel inside…”
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!, ya big softie.
Oh, and thanks for sharing a beautiful, intimate glimpse of two people truly, madly, deeply in love. Hmm, maybe you should consider writing romance novels….
…then I might consider reading them…
“Wuv, true wuv, is what bwings us togewher today.”
Sweetest thing I’ve ever read!
Boy, do I miss THAT feeling… sigh.
Great story – you both are very lucky to have each other.
you made me cry. it seems i cry so easily now. i can only hope that one day i find someone that will think of me the way you do your wife. v touching.
Six and a half years of marriage here, and this evening over supper my husband looked at me and said, “I’m falling wildly, madly, passionately in love with you again. Is that okay?” I smiled back and called him a loon. We always love each other, but there are moments when it all seems new again, and it’s wonderful.