expressions: just one minute
monday, april 29, 2002


it's 15 minutes after the appointment and my new student hasn't shown up yet. i have things to do, my own homework to worry about, so today i'm not going to wait around to see if anyone else needs help. i start packing. i prefer sitting in the cafeteria to sitting in the tutoring center for doing homework. both have their own kind of noisy, but in the tutoring center it's far more immediate and distracting.

someone comes in huffing. i don't look up - it's not my problem now. i've waited five minutes longer than is expected and it's time to go. it takes me less than a minute to put my work back in my backpack.

"i'm late! did i miss her?"

i pause. "chris?"

"yes."

i finally look up. "you're in luck, i was just about to take off."

he's a good looking blonde, slender man with a mustache. mustaches usually turn me off, but this looks right on his face.

marguerite, at the desk, says, "you don't have much time."

"i'll take the appointment anyway."

at the time, i didn't know that we were both in luck. i met saxy at riverside community college in riverside, california where i was tutoring and he became one of my math students. that first day he was very late and i was getting ready to leave when he finally rushed in. just one more minute and we would have missed each other altogether. just one more minute and we would never have gotten married, i'd still be a single parent - maybe even done with my degree long before this.

we have our ups and downs, but the love is there, strong and binding.

i pick up my bag and collect a ket for a room form the desk. as we walk to the tutoring rooms, i ask, "so, what can i help you with?" not knowing what one minute has just done for our futures.

in his answer i discover that i like his voice. would i do it again?

despite all the trouble he has been, yea. because a love like ours only comes once in a lifetime.