Rainbow Falls

Rainbow Falls

Yep, that’s where it all began. No, the Rainbows weren’t falling out of the sky.. And no, we weren’t at a waterfall with a rainbow bursting through the sunlight. It was actually… the local pool…
I know, sounds strange. Even more so, it was the concession stand at the local pool, Rainbow Falls. And no, it didn’t happen while standing in line (you could probably come up with some romantic story in your own head about falling in love in line for some nachos.. “While turning from the nacho line, one innocent chip began it’s freefall to the ground. She reached to save it, they both fumbled for the rescue, their hands touched, their eyes met!!!”) blah blah, not so.
I actually first saw him when my new manager (yes we both worked there) was handing me my nifty red (and incredibly over-sized) polo, just a few days after my 14th birthday. He had a big cheese stained the front if his shirt, and the guy next too him was throwing ice at another poor innocent girl, who was trying to take an order from a customer. Was this what I was about to get into? Sure mom! I’ll get a summer job! Wow, think of all the money I could make! Little did I know, the concession stand vet’s were going to do everything they could to sabotage you while you are trying to take orders…. I think on my first day, I too, had a big huge permanent cheese stain on the front of my ‘new’ shirt, a rip in the collar, and one of my hair clips was lost in the jalapeno jar… oops!
But yes, my future husband was apart of the shenanigan’s, and funny, now we had matching nacho cheese stains..
Little did I know, that the fun of the next few summers, was laying the ground work for what ended up in marriage, 11 years later…

To answer some questions: No, we haven’t been together that long. No, we never dated in High School. Yes, we lost touch for many years (Marty’s 2 years older than I), No, Marty wasn’t the sole instigator in us young girls being tortured in the concession stand (Hi Sprinkles!) Yes, I thought my husband was the most adorable thing on earth back then. No, I never told him that. And No! I never, on God’s green earth, would have imagined that 11 years later I would be marring him. WooWhoo!

So Rainbow Falls.. What a wonderful place.. After sometime, it turned out to be a great place! And I’ve made some incredible, everlasting friends and memories. Sprinkles you ask? Well, that’s just what our niece calls him (she couldn’t ever remember that it was Spencer, not sprinkles). He kind of made me miserable for a while. I tried so hard to ‘look good’ when going to work, for the chance that Marty would be there, but Sprinkles was quick to wipe cheese in my hair, or ‘accidently’ spill the jalapeno juice on me so I smelled just peachy. But in his defense, we turned out to be pretty good friends. As the years passed, I left the concessions, and moved to the lifeguard stand. With 2 little shouts from my whistle, ‘Sprinkles’ was on his way out to me, Laffy Taffy’s in hand. He always new that’s what I wanted.

At our wedding reception, we had all of the tables labeled with all the different places in our town, that have been a big part of our lives growing up, instead of labeling with the traditional number. So of course, it seemed fitting that our head table, had none other than “Rainbow Falls” cast upon it. And of course, a year earlier when I had finally ran into Marty, after 6 years, he somehow made it into my cellphone under the name “Rainbow Falls” It’s been like that for 3 years now, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to change it. ‘Marty’ would call and I would look at it and say “Who?” Oh, and did I mention that Rainbow Falls shares a parking lot with the church we got married in? Which is also 3 blocks down the street from the house we bought? Hmmmm.

So thank you Rainbow Falls. Thank you for my $5.25/hour. Thank you for the daily cheese stains. Thank you for the free pizza’s. And don’t forget all those wonderful Choco Taco’s. Thank you for the memories and the friends. And most of all, Thank you for letting my wonderful husband, see past the fashionable cheese stains, the jalapeno perfume, and hot dog water lotion. He might not have fallen in love with me 11 years later, with out his Rainbow Falls goggles...