Love Without Borders

Miss Sorensen often reminded her students that the crushes they experienced in high school were often fleeting, ethereal things. They weren't the same thing as love; it was more about hormones and physical attraction than it was the real, deep, complex type of love that truly meant two people were meant to be together. Then again, when it happened to her, she was reminded about how strong those feelings can be, and the true power a crush can have.

His name was Wendell, and he was at her school only for a semester. He was leaving for the Teachers Without Borders program the winter after she started at the school. He was young; he'd only been there for a few years, but was already feeling the call of something greater. Lena had just come from an inner city school, and had more than her fair share of rough situations and tough learning environments, but Wendell was born, raised and educated in this decidedly more suburban school district, and now craved the opportunity to teach students who really needed his expertise, as well as take the opportunity to see the world.

That fall semester was one of the best Lena could remember in recent memory. Wendell was sweet, fun, exciting, and always managed to surprise her in one way or another. He helped her acclimate to the new school, and showed her around town when almost everyone else was too wrapped up in their own lives to welcome a newcomer. Of course, it didn't hurt that Wendell was ridiculously good looking; that prep-school kind of handsome that could have landed him on the cover of a Gap catalog just as easily as it could have led to a teaching credential.

He helped her develop lesson plans for her classroom, showed her the ins and outs of the school, and even made sure they had lunch together every day, listening patiently as she vented about her frustrations about being at a new school with a new set of colleagues, and new policies to learn and observe.

At first, Lena was cautious with her heart. She knew he was leaving – and that was a big part of it – but she also didn't want to fall for a guy. Her career was important to her, and she didn't want to put that on the back burner for anything, or anyone. Still, as the days and weeks went on, she found herself falling harder and harder for Wendell, with his laid-back, easy charm and his "no worries" style of teaching. They started sleeping over at each other's places after Labor Day, and by Halloween pretty much everyone on campus knew that they were an item. Lena seemed to be the object of some jealousy around school; apparently several of the more eligible female teachers had unsuccessfully tried to land Wendell.

The whirlwind romance quickly came to an end, though. Halloween gave way to Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving quickly transitioned into Christmas, and before they knew it, Wendell was scheduled to ship out. He was headed to Eritrea for two months, before continuing on to Syria, and then Thailand. He would be teaching English Language Learners and helping them better understand the language so they could hopefully transfer to American universities and receive a better education than they would at home. Lena greatly admired his drive and dedication to educating those in need, and was deeply tempted to join him abroad when he asked her to come with him. But she had signed a contract with the school, and they weren't about to let two teachers leave at the same time in the middle of the school year.

She probably could have pushed the matter and gotten permission to go, if not in the winter than certainly at the end of the year when her contract was up, but Lena was also terrified of traveling abroad. She had never been outside the United States, and wasn't sure what to expect. Not to mention the fact that she was equally terrified of the thought of following a man around the world. After all, it was just a silly crush, wasn't it?

When Wendell left, it was like a piece of her went with him. She was sullen and depressed for the entire spring semester, and although they wrote to one another frequently and saw one another on video chat over the internet, there was a part of Lena that wished she had just gone with him, so she could have continued to feel his arms wrapped around her at night, rather than the cold loneliness that accompanied her now. As the semester went on, Lena became more and more convinced that it wasn't just a crush; the man she loved was now thousands of miles away, on the other side of the world, doing what he loved to do.

Why didn't she just go with him?


(818 words)