text: Any feedback is appreciated! let me know any criticisms you have! Don't hold back. I just got into writing but I am constantly trying to improve. Blue. Blue like the vast expanse of the ocean or the ever-mysterious sky. A light blue, a happy blue. There are sad blues, like the melancholy feeling on a Sunday afternoon. There are violent blues, as a spot of blue appears after a blow to the body. There are scary blues, like the blue reflection of the lights on a cop car on a rear-view mirror. But this blue. Her blue. This was the best blue I had ever seen. I was so taken aback by her blue that I stared silently for a moment. A moment too long. My throat tightened and my stomach dropped and my brain was telling me to say something. Anything. My mouth opened and my lungs pushed air around my vocal chords but I coulddn’t get my tongue to move. The resulting grunt made her blue confused. Her eyebrows scrunched in concern and she smiled slightly. The awkwardness required a smile. Those blue sapphires never broke their hold on my eyes though. She just wouldn’t look away. I was reminded of a story I had heard my dad tell me, about how when angels used to visit earth men would be forced to look away because their glory and their beauty were too much for the eyes of mere mortals. This is how I felt now. As my heart rate rose, my eyes dropped and this is when she finally spoke. As the sound waves cut through the air and met my ears, pushing through my ear canal and vibrating my ear drums, my brain registered that this was perhaps the most beautiful voice I had ever heard. I consider myself a dedicated fan to music. Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Elvis, Sam Cooke, I listened to and loved them all. But as her words registered in my brain I realized I had never heard a more beautiful sound. “Are you okay?” She asked, still concerned. Water falls at 32 feet per second over the Niagara Falls. It hits the base of the falls with upwards of 2,500 pounds of force. Still, with no hyperbolism, I can say with complete confidence that when the blood rushed to my face it was even more forceful. The warm flow came up my chest and throat and pooled in my cheeks. I thought my cheeks may double in size. Of course, that morning, like every other, I had completely shaved my face. There was not a piece of stubble on my face to obscure my embarrassment. My eyes met hers again, and I jerked backwards as if struck. I had never been more scared in my life. I was not a small man, nor one easily intimidated. I stood tall and strong, with a straight spine and my soldiers back. I had pride and confidence, and I was well respected by most everyone I knew. But here, now, I was terrified. I stood almost a foot taller than her, and I had a muscle-bound body from year of manual labor. She was slim. Yet, she was the scariest thing I had ever seen. In some people’s lives, there is a moment or two where they possess a superhuman ability. In 2006, a Canadian woman fought off a polar bear with her bare hands to save several children. In 2013, two sisters lifted a tractor off of their father in Oregon. The girls were 14 and 16 years old. The tractor weighed three tons. These superhuman abilities come from insane pressure and the feeling of imminent death to one’s self or their loved ones in the event that they do not act. In this moment, I too, developed a superhuman ability. I spoke. “Yes,” I said. She smiled at me, and then the world slowed down. Her blonde curly hair began to twist counterclockwise, and her chin moved in the same direction. Her shoulders moved in opposite directions as her beautiful blue eyes finally broke their grasp on mine. She was turning away. The awestruck wonder and love-at-first-sight feeling I had was replaced with panic. The blood in my face flowed down back into my heart and out into the rest of my body. My adrenal gland was working in overdrive. I felt the same fear that man feels standing on the edge of a cliff, looking at death and misery beneath. Fight or flight. That’s what that’s called. There’s a third F. Freeze. I couldn’t move. I was watching an angel walk away from me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. For the second time that day, I was superman. “Hey!” I called after her. Nice. Hey? Are you kidding me? That’s what I came up with? She turned again, and the sun shined down on me once more. Well, you all know the rest of the story. I just thought I would share with you what it was like when we met. I want to thank you all so much for coming out tonight. Please, drink our booze, and eat our food. I want to thank my parents, and Allie’s parents. I also appreciate you all indulging me as I rant and rave about how much I love this woman. She truly is an angel. I didn’t know it that day, but I would soon figure out that she was as beautiful on the outside as within. In wedding tradition, the bride wears something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. I told Allie that she already has her something blue. She told me that’s cheesy, which it undoubtedly is. But if you saw her something blue the way I do, I think you would understand. Thanks, everybody.