Will You Go With Me?

“Will you go with me?”

That’s what the boys asked the girls when we were young.  In middle school, you reached the height of social status when a boy asked you to go with him.  It aggravated our parents so much. They would overhear our conversations that always consisted of “she’s going with him” or “they’re going together” and they would ask the completely asinine question:

“Where are they going?”

Because when our parents were younger the way to say it was “going steady.” But that doesn’t seem to fit right, does it? Relationships are never steady.  They are bumpy, and messy, and full of mountains and valleys.  You fight. You make up. You fight again.  You spend some time in the silent treatment. You might even sleep in separate rooms for a while.  You make up again.  Or you don’t.  Maybe you go your separate ways and find another relationship to try again with.  But it will never be “steady.” Anyone who thinks it will be is kidding themselves.  And anyone who says that their relationship HAS been – is lying. 

We later moved on from “will you go with me?” to “will you go out with me?” which was equally weird because in high school, no one was really going out anywhere.  We had no money and none of us had cars yet.  “Going out” just meant we would see each other at school and hold hands in the hallway.  Maybe we would walk home together after school or convince someone’s parents to drive us to the movies.  But mostly it was talking on the phone for hours every night.  It made no sense, this play on words.

I’m older now.  Old enough to realize that relationships don’t always last. That boy from middle school is actually NOT the love of my life, even though at the time I swore we’d be together forever.  Neither are the dozens who came after him.  None of those relationships were “steady.” 

I do believe I have found my one now. And we are far from steady.  But he is the one I run to when things get scary. He is the one I think of first when I wake up.  When I am sitting on the top of a mountain and looking out over a beautiful view, I try to capture the pictures as perfectly as I can so that he can share the experience as if he were standing beside me.  And if he asked me that silly question from middle school now, my answer would be yes – Yes, I will go with you.  I will go with you through the bumpy and messy, though the ups and downs, through the mountains and valleys.  

Through the unsteady.

I will go with you anywhere.