After I ran the Birmingham marathon on Valentine's Day 2010, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands, especially on Saturday mornings when I had been doing my long training runs. Fortunately, living in the dorm where the school cafeteria was meant that there were usually interesting, hungry people hanging around waiting for a meal, eating a meal, or happily chatting after a meal.Saturday morning brunch conversations quickly became my favorite substitutes for those grueling long runs, and Doug became my favorite brunch conversation companion.
I remember one particular conversation that went on into the afternoon, about the nature of free will and differences in religious viewpoints about it. Doug lent me his copy of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and we ended up watching a movie in the dorm commons room. Our movie-watching became a routine, and this is what began to cause speculation among the girls who lived in my dorm about the nature of my relationship with "Mr. Puett." I denied any interest of the sort. Doug is younger than I am, and I just never considered him as a potential romantic partner.
I think the first time I realized that I really might fancy him was watching Kristin Lavransdatter a Norwegian movie so melodramatic and over-acted, we found it hilarious. I hadn't laughed that hard in a very long time, and it became a kind of running joke.
During spring break evenings, with all the kids gone, we got together with a couple of the other dorm parent teachers for dinner and movies. Doug and another teacher and I went for a hike at Fiery Gizzard, and we had some really nice talks while we hiked. I knew that I could get to be very close friends with this person, but I still wasn't sure. So I asked some friends for advice.
If I remember correctly, Carrie said, "Go for it, you can train him!" and Tracie said, "You only live once!"
...so I gave myself permission to like him. And I did.
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