Tag Archives: romance

Thank you, Scotland

22 Sunday Jul 2012

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A Scotland Rendezvous, Chapter 5 (Final Chapter)

There’s an advantage to going to a place you never dreamed of going to before. You have absolutely no expectations, really. You never imagined yourself there so it lets you experience and feel everything and lets you be open to it.

What I needed to be open to was this idea of love.

After our quick journey through the Highlands of Scotland, we returned to Dundee. There was one more day before I had to return to the U.S. Steve planned a day trip to St. Andrews. We walked around the campus of the University of St. Andrews (the third oldest university in the English-speaking world, by the way) and when the bell rang, students poured out into the courtyard where we sat and I told Steve, “They all sound like they’re from Harry Potter.”

“That’s because they come from predominantly upper class families,” he explained.

That made sense.  To be honest, I didn’t know a thing about St. Andrews University except that Prince William was enrolled there, and wouldn’t that be cool if I saw him? I scanned the group of students and alas, no Prince William.

We also visited the Old Course at St. Andrews. I know just as much about golf as I know about Scotland. Steve informed me that it was one of the oldest golf courses in the world. “Do you play golf,” I asked him, wondering if this relationship progressed if I was going to be getting involved with a golfer.

“Not really,” he said. “I’ve played, but it doesn’t interest me.”

For some reason, I felt relief.  I have nothing against golf, but already we’ve established that he likes to look at birds and I don’t have experience with that. If we add golf to the mix, I wasn’t quite sure how I would fit in.

We returned to Dundee where Steve had a phone meeting and suggested that I spend some time walking around the town. Super idea! I thought. I wanted to go get my hair blowed out straight so it would make the long flight back easier on me.  (Really, it makes a big difference when you’ve got hair like mine.) I was to leave the next morning and so today was the day to take care of this.  Plus, it would give Steve a chance to see me with straight hair, which to be honest with you, I look pretty damn good with straight hair.  (All women with curly hair say that, you know.)

After a little bit of shopping in the department store in town, picking up only a few things, I found a hair salon and asked if they would blow out my hair straight. A very cute quintessentially Scottish girl with bright red curly hair (she understands!) sat me down in the chair, put the black plastic cape over me and then off to the sinks I went to get a nice shampoo and condition.

While back in the chair she asks, “Are you here on business or holiday?”

All of a sudden I started to feel. I could tell that water was wanting to push out from my eyes and I wasn’t going to have it.  Be strong, for crying out loud my inner voice told me.

“Holiday,” I said with barely enough sound for her to hear.

“Oh!” she chirped. “Are you visiting family or friends?”

Holy cow. Here it comes. I STARTED TO CRY.

“Um, I met this guy online and we’ve spent the week together touring the highlands,” I said, choking out the words.

“Awww, sweetie, are you going to see him again?”

More tears.

“I don’t know,” I said with enough courage to look up at the mirror and noticed that my eyes were red.

“Just a minute,” she said.  “I need to go grab something.”

She walked away and I was there in the chair.  In a hair salon. In Dundee, Scotland. BAWLING MY EYES OUT. Oh, for Pete’s sake.

I didn’t know the answer to her question. I didn’t know if I’d ever seem him again.  I wasn’t even sure if this was a fling or the beginning of something fantastic. I looked in the mirror again and could see the hair stylist whispering to another stylist and they both looked over at me. Oh geez, I’m the big story in the salon today, I suppose.

Eventually I got a grip on things and there were no more tears. My hair was straightened beautifully, I paid and tipped (quite well, for the awkwardness she had to endure) and then made my way back to Steve’s flat.

“You look fantastic!” he said when he saw me. Big grin and all.

We made dinner together, went to a movie and I spent the rest of our time together in tears. The poor guy didn’t quite know what to do.

We drove to the airport in silence and then said our goodbye.

Scotland, you were the place I never dreamed of going to before.  I had no expectations. I never imagined myself there, but there I had been.

I experienced everything, felt everything, and as a result, opened myself to finding love. Thank you Scotland.

Find out when and where we meet again.

 

Romance blossoms in the Scottish Highlands

04 Wednesday Jul 2012

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A Scotland Rendezvous, chapter 3

“So tell me about your past relationships–the good, the bad and the ugly.”

That’s how we began our three-day road trip through the Scottish Highlands.

There wasn’t much to tell, really. I was 39 years old and over the last decade I’d kept a pretty good distance from any relationship for a variety of reasons that didn’t make sense when I really thought about it.

Steve, I’m certain, thought I was being coy when I explained that there wasn’t much to tell.

A lesson on the birds and the bees.  Well, maybe just the birds.

Just as I was going to ask him about his back story, he said, “Hey, do you mind if we stop by this bird refuge? I’ve always wanted to see it.

“A bird refuge?” I thought. “Can’t say I would ever stop to do that.”

And before I knew it, we had parked and then he was pulling out of the car trunk a tripod and scope.  He never really said anything about what he was going to be doing with the scope.  In fact, he was pretty quiet about it.  “Hmmm,”  I paused to think and take this all in.  “He’s got a scope.  He’s kind of the quiet type. We’re stopping at a bird refuge.” I was putting all the pieces together slowly.  ”This guy looks at birds?” Oh, the horror.

I played along.  We went into the visitor center, paid the donation and walked around, looking at the various dioramas of wetlands and birds. I was scanning the place looking for a gift shop that might have something I might identify with. Like a necklace. Or a tea cup.  But I didn’t see a gift shop.  “Just go with it,” I thought.

The host at the visitor center told us about a blind nearby where we could get a good look. At what, exactly, I wasn’t so sure.  Nevertheless, I just followed Steve and we went outside and walked along the path that led us to what looked like a dilapidated shed and sat there on the bench and looked out through narrow slats.

And that’s when he made his big move. I asked him, “Have you always wanted to do that?”

“Do what?” he asked sheepishly.

“Take a girl out in a blind and kiss her.”

And then there was a castle

After catching my breath following the bird refuge we made our way to the Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire. I had never been to a castle before my time in Edinburgh the day before. But this one was even better–it was just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere for people to walk through.   For a mere £5 each we were able to meander through the ruins of the castle, even sneaking away to a private corner where Steve stole another kiss.

To tell people that I felt like I had been dreaming the entire experience is the world’s greatest understatement. But imagine this: What woman really gets to fly off with very little notice at the invitation of a stranger she had just met online and get kissed in a castle? And let me add this: And actually like the guy?

It had to be a dream, right? This was so not my life.

The pathway to the Dunnottar Castle, Aberdeenshire

View of a waterfall seen on our walk to the castle

Me with Dunnottar Castle in background,

Arranging for a romantic soundtrack in Inverness

The first day on the road was long I suppose, because we got as far as Inverness, the capital of the Scottish Highlands, all the way from Dundee and it was dark. It just didn’t feel like it was a long day. It wasn’t going too fast either, I must admit.  I think for the first time, I actually was trying to be in the experience and I wasn’t concerned with time at all. I had quit my job just before this trip and was starting at a new company the day after I was to return to the United States, so there really wasn’t anything pressing on my mind to distract me from what was taking place. No emails to check, no work to catch up on. I wasn’t attached to anything that would prevent me from letting everything happen to me. I could actually change the script of my life and write a new one.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Inverness, had dinner at a restaurant next door and rose early to get back on the road again. By this time it had occurred to me that Steve brought no music with him on the trip.  For me, you can’t go on a road trip without a proper road music and so I said, “Hey let me pick out some CDs for you,” and we popped into a store. Now since I couldn’t help but be romantic, I collected all the necessary artists for the perfect soundtrack for this new script.  Thank you Diana Krall, Michael Bublé and Steve Tyrell.

Yes, I have my ways.

Go on to the next chapter.