In Gordon's Arms

A guy walks across the campus of Eastern Illinois University. In his wallet lie pictures of him and his girlfriend. To them both, the pictures represent memories held precious between the two. In one picture there is the happy couple holding each other after one week of going out, in front of a red-hot sunset at the classic Glencoe Beach. In another picture, the happy couple is once again in each others' arms, this time posing for a Homecoming picture. During Christmastime, the U.S. Postal Service delivered 20 Christmas cards from this couple to their friends and relatives. All of these pictures have one thing in common. In every one of these pictures and more, I am in Gordon's arms.

Every time I see Gordon my heart skips and my smile widens upon reflex. His smile is always the same, yet I look at him wearing that same facial expression which welcomes me as always, beckoning. His heart-shaped lips smile into wide heart, flattening all my doubts and any gloom the clouds might cast over me. That beautiful face allows no uncertainty past and I am reassured. My stomach fills with happy butterflies and does little flip-flops; a party is going on in my stomach! The dizzy butterflies flap harder as my stomach churns in excitement. Our wonderful past memories flow through my head, playing "Every Time I Close My Eyes" by Babyface. "Every time I close my eyes I thank the Lord that, I've got you…and you've got me too," it explains. I feel us once again holding hands across the armrest in his super-black, '97 Altima, discovering Glencoe, looking for a special place to eat before he takes me to the infamous beach. I trust my intuition and know I have deemed the sanctity as mine for the past eight months. His arms widen, open only my heart and self, and pulls me in. I feel my smile widen more as Nautica flows through my nostrils, straight into my heart; my arms wrap around his sweet smelling neck, my cheek against his chest, his cheek against my forehead.

In his arms I am, and there I belong. No exceptions are made to the tenderness and approval I feel every time in this embrace. "Welcome," he seems to say mentally. "I've missed you." I take refuge from the gripes of the day; all woe is gone, dismissed with no last regards. There are no requirements for me here. Nothing can touch me now; I am on top of the world, whether I am in his arms in a parking lot, on the beach, or at my front door. I do not care where, as long as I am here in his arms. My sanctuary is occupied, reserved for me and myself only. I have a special spot here, holding a precious place in his heart and mine. I am opened to him wholly and with all my heart. I am still smiling with no control, uncontrollably happy. My eyes close and his slender hands pull me in tighter, making me forget of anything going on around us. Babyface sings on, "and every time I think of it, I pinch myself 'cause I don’t believe it's true. That someone like you loves me too." Under the Nautica I smell him and in my ear I hear, "I wish I could just hold you here forever."