by Dane Bagley
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John was tired. He had stayed up more than half the night deliberating the actions of this day. It was getting dark and his eyes were heavy. Saying goodbye to Janice was hard. It had never been hard to say goodbye to a girl before. He was used to the tears and the drama; that didn’t bother him. He’d even had things thrown at him before. Girls could get so emotional. Janice was classy. She was always classy. Both the tears welling up and the expression on her face were fair. There was something special between them, and he felt badly too.
He tried not to lead her on too much. He didn’t want her to feel so hurt if he did say goodbye. But Janice had had a chance. He had considered her—seriously considered her. He wasn’t just stringing her along. It could have just as easily have been Sarah whose heart would be broken. In the last night, he could see one thing lacking with Janice, and that one thing was what he saw in Sarah: pure goodness. Janice was a good person, but he hadn’t caught that glimpse of eternity that he saw when he looked into Sarah’s eyes. He saw in Janice everything that he wanted in the present, but when he looked at Sarah he saw a glorious eternity.
He was having the time of his life with Janice, except that it wasn’t as good as when he danced with Sarah. That experience surpassed what he had felt over the past six weeks. Janice was everything he had ever wanted, until he met Sarah, and he had to make a choice. At times when he said goodnight he was holding the girl of his dreams and all he could think about was Sarah. If at those moments his heart returned to Sarah, then that must be where his heart led. Janice was wonderful in every way, but she was not Sarah. In fact, she was nothing like Sarah at all. His mind caught the memory of the vision of his first looking at Sarah at the dance. It was the sweetest memory of his life. There was no question in his mind, he was in love with Sarah and he knew that no other girl in the world could compare to her.
Yes, another heart would be broken. Somehow he understood that that would happen this time. Perhaps it was because this time he felt something too. Still, John wasn’t looking for girlfriends. He was looking to court the woman that would become his wife. If he hadn’t met Sarah, Janice would have filled his heart. But he had met Sarah and he was sure that she was all he would ever need. No sense in wasting any more time with any other girl. He knew who his girl was and he couldn’t wait until he could spend his time with her.
