“Did you have any ideas?”
We walked towards my car in the parking lot. I couldn’t believe it was February–it had to be at least seventy degrees. I hadn’t even brought a jacket to work. There was a light breeze blowing, but it wasn’t overpowering–it was perfect.
I handed over the keys, and he drove, and it seemed he was going to surprise me. We left the parking garage, took a turn, went down the highway a piece, then took an off ramp and an overpass. I giggled out a little “Hah!”, thinking I had figured out where he was taking me.
I was wrong.
We took a turn down a sidestreet and pulled into a Taco Bueno parking lot. This is it? I thought. The car creeped towards the back of the lot, and I wondered what other buildings were back there, but then we swung into the drive-through lane. Mexican takeout? At the speaker, he looked at me expectantly, waiting for my order. “Don’t get a plate,” he said to me, sounding like I needed to get something I could carry and eat. I was a little lost; I asked for a little soft taco meal and sat back and waited. I had offered him my cash, but he paid for me. It seems I’m not a very expensive date.
He pulled my car out of the parking lot. We drove a block, took a turn, commented on street names, and took another turn. I noticed a quaint little children’s playground on the left, and just as we passed it he pulled the car into a parking lot.
He got out of the car and carried our sodas, and I picked up the bag of tacos and followed him. We were at a botanical garden with beautiful walking paths, trickling fountains, and huge trees. There was a little pavilion towards the back of the park that we could sit down and eat, which we did, enjoying the perfect weather and light breeze, and chatting lightly about work and random nothing. When we were finished eating, he gathered up our trash and took me on a walk.
We were in no hurry, which was really nice. The signs permanently planted in the ground told us what was supposed to grow there, though many plants hadn’t popped up for springtime yet. I noticed what I thought to be a Chinese maple, with red bark but devoid of leaves.
A little further down the winding path we crossed a little footbridge over a very low creek, and made our way up a little embankment to a huge tree with a sign in front of it. We guessed it was some kind of oak but weren’t really sure. What he did know is that it was one of the oldest trees in the area, and he spoke at length about it. He loves trees.
Back down the embankment and back along the path, the stones curved in a half-figure-eight, and we came within sight of the playground I had noticed earlier. An incredibly thin, short-haired woman walked with her two children, who were both smaller than mine, and it was obvious that they had a destination but were in no rush to get to it. At one point they fell in behind us on our stroll around the rest of the path.
Towards the end we came around the side of a fountain, which he pointed out was unusual because the water came out over the sides and spilled out into french drains strategically placed at its base. They were half covered with leaves, and I noted they could use a little cleaning. It was more a natural site than a distracting sign of neglect, though.
As we got close to the beginning of our walk, I threw out the soda cup I had been carrying and sipping, and asked for the key to my car. I went back to it, got my iphone, and took this little picture. It doesn’t capture a tenth of the beauty of what I saw at lunch time. The landscape was perfect, the weather was perfect, and the moment was perfect.
A couple hours later, I went from one building to the other at work, crossing over the short hundred or so feet outside. The wind whipped, and I was instantly hit with a harsh amount of freezing cold air. In a short amount of time, the day had changed from warm to cold. It was as if that freezing wind was holding back–just waiting–letting us enjoy our perfect lunch before getting to work.
And on this day,
February 5, 2003… I guess I just wasn’t meant to work out that day.
“Come on, Rain, just one picture. We’re not leaving until you let me take one picture.” That’s why they look so happy in this picture. 
