The Red Leather Jacket: Yellowstone, Old Faithful, and First Dates

One week ago today, we were in Yellowstone National Park enjoying it with our daughter and family along with other students enrolled in a special outdoor school. Two teachers, who were experts in volcanoes and geology gave us many insights where we saw firsthand the many sights at the Park. It was a wonderful time as we enjoyed God's creation. Here are a few of the sights:

Bison, casually grazing right next to our car

Firehole Falls

Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone Falls

Paint Pots

Thursday, September 4, was a special day. It was the first anniversary of our first date. While driving through the national park, we reminisced about the day. It was September 4, 2013, during a meeting that I saw my silenced cell phone brighten up with an incoming call. It had no personal identity, but I noticed it was a 503 area code--the Portland area. Could this be that guy from Corbett? The one whose voice I'd never heard. Whose face I'd only seen in a still photo? I quickly left the meeting to check my messages. Indeed, it was Jim! I called him back and we arranged to meet at a Portland coffee shop at 12:30 pm. I was a little late--it was 12:34--when I walked toward the shop. I scanned the people sitting outdoors and didn't see anyone who resembled Jim. I quickly made my way inside the crowded room to find this Corbett guy. There was a man halfway standing up, peering over the crowd across the room. It looked like it might be my date. I walked up to him and said, "Are you Jim?"

"I sure am!" He said. Quickly he flipped his laptop open, looked at a photo of me, nodded his head as if confirming it was me displayed on the screen. He stood, offered his hand to shake mine and said. "You must be Shirley! What can I get for you?" We drank our coffee--mine was a cappuccino, he had a latte. We talked and talked and talked. The date lasted for more than two hours. Before we concluded our date, Jim asked for another--and that's part of the story. If you've been reading my blogs, you know that on December 7th, we were married.

Let's fast forward to this September 4, 2014, when we were at Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. We pulled into the Visitor's Center and saw that in only 10 minutes, Old Faithful geyser would erupt. We quickly walked out to the site and waited with many other people in the clear sunny skies. Soon, it began smoking and sputtering and in no time, it was spewing hundreds of gallons of water up into the air. People around us were clapping and oohing and ahhing at the sight. Soon, it slowly came to a stop and it was done--for another ninety minutes. As we walked back toward the Visitor Center, Jim looked at his watch. Old Faithful erupted at exactly 1:34 pm, Mountain Time. That meant it was 12:34 pm Pacific Time. One year later, at the exact time of our first meeting Old Faithful erupted and helped us celebrate that wonderful meeting! Was it coincidence? Maybe. But maybe, just maybe, it was just another nod from God and His sense of perfect timing to remind us of His love for us and also remind us how much He loves us as individuals.