Not Just Another Travel Romance, Pt. 3
A girl and a boy; both on individual ambitious paths to success. A meet cute beyond belief. A change in course. A story that continues to shock me and those I get to share it with. Too long for one blog, so here it is, in parts. A Match Made in Moab, part 3.
A lot can happen in a week.
Our first photo together, less than 24 hours after knowing him… lol
As the night went on, Levi and a few of his friends join the hostel party where our connection seems to gain electricity by the minute. By the end of the night Levi whisks me away to chat outside of the party. We head to a nearby lake, sit on the tailgate and have the kind of conversation that makes you want to stay up talking all night. And even convinces me to jump into the ice cold lake, “just think of the memory though, how sick would it be!?” So I did it, and he was indeed right. By the end of the evening (maybe 3:30 or 4:00 am) as he walks me back to my dorm, he suggests something crazy. What if I stayed through the weekend in Moab, and then came up to northern Utah with him to check it out. I smile and laugh a bit, partially agreeing that it would be fun, but knowing deep down that that probably wouldn’t happen.
I go to bed that night feeling so content in the beautiful night I had, slightly conflicted about what to do, but not stressing about it. My friend Allison taught me a valuable lesson: there’s no need to make extreme decisions until the day of, so I waited until the next day. Tomorrow came and I knew what I would do. I gathered my stuff, and walked down to the common area, where Levi was waiting at the bottom of the stairs; looking dreamy as ever. I approach him, set down my stuff, and said, “You’re going to hate me, but I am leaving today.”
Day 2 of knowing Levi
It’s funny to recount this because knowing what I know now, you couldn’t have paid me to leave. But I made my decision based on what I thought I wanted in life at that moment. I stayed true to myself and my plan. I said no to this dream boy standing before me, in order to say yes to my dream of being free; because naivety told me that those dreams couldn’t co-exist.
Levi’s expression went from thrilled to less than thrilled; my heart dropped in sadness as well, but I stayed strong. He asked a few questions and attempted to persuade me one more time, but my mind was set. I picked up my bags and started making my way to my car when something absolutely insane happened. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP PEOPLE: A torrential hale storm broke out out of no where in the freaking desert of Moab, Utah. I’ve never even seen hale in my life, it was insanity and hindered everyone from driving.
So I find myself stuck in the hostel lobby, hale pounding the roof above us; just Levi, me, and a random guitar left in the hostel year’s ago. He picks it up, tunes it for a sec while I pretend to be busy on my phone, and starts playing and unfamiliar tune. Ad-libbed words begin to follow the melody, and while I no longer remember them precisely, I believe, “just stay…” was the main chorus. My heart melts, my mind clears, I listen intently, and know then and there that I’m a literal goner. He finishes the song and I say, “well, maybe we can at least go to lunch after the hale storm passes.” He flashes a grin that continues to tear me to pieces and we go on our way.
I invite Allison, and over lunch I got to get to know the rest of his crew better–including his sweet siblings, cousins, and friends who all convinced us that if we didn’t go off-roading with them that day, that we would for sure miss out on the coolest experience ever. So Allison and I look at each other and like the 6 nights’ prior say, “Well, just one more night.” And we go on our merry way into the craziest off-roading terrain I’ve ever experienced. Following the off-roading, we camped (my first real camping experience!!) where I got to know Levi more and more.
Every moment we spent together seemed to grow our attraction to each other more and our connection deeper. The idea of going north to Utah with him became less and less crazy. The following day we went rock climbing and after a scary fall by Mr. DareDevil aka Levi, I realized even our craziness levels matched (though he absolutely has me beat). The weekend I’d spent with him and his fam and friends was so much fun, it’s showed me a different side of Moab, and realistically a different side of Utah.
I knew it wasn’t time to leave yet, I knew realistically I didn’t have to leave yet. Yes I had family and friends waiting for me at home, but I couldn’t go on without exploring what this was. I knew I could work from wherever and was interested in seeing a new part of the world. I thought why not..? So when Levi hobbled over to me smiling at Looking Glass Rock after nearly breaking his legs on a failed rope swing, paying no mind to the gaping wound on his leg and foot, I shook my head smiling and laughing at the craziness of it all and asked, “so when do we head north?”
I couldn’t be more thankful for the random ‘hostel’ sign spotting on the side of the road, almost two months ago, or the consistently broken, “just one more night,” promise I made to myself five days straight. I’ve never been more thankful for hale that rained down in the desert one sweltering Saturday morning in Moab, Utah that allowed our paths to cross. I genuinely cannot imagine it happening any other way.
