An Unlikely Pair

By Vallory Jones

What I need to live has been given to me by the earth. Why I need to live has been given to me by you.

~Author Unknown

Jack is clever. And creative. And that's how we came to have dinner together three years ago. For months, we'd been Facebooking back and forth — just as friends — so naturally, when he contacted me about joining everyone for a happy hour, I accepted. It seemed perfectly legit because by "everyone," he meant many of our hometown classmates.

You see, Jack and I grew up together in a small Texas town, albeit from different sides of the track. He was a wild and reckless boy, and well, I was the proverbial good girl. I was responsible, walked the straight and narrow, and did things by the book. Jack, on the other hand, got himself into lots of trouble and as often as possible. It wasn't unusual to hear that he'd been in a car accident, a four-wheeling collision, a bloody brawl, or suspended from school. Quite frankly, he intimidated me, and I avoided him at all costs. Likewise, he didn't think he had much in common with me either, so for the duration of middle and high school, we frequented the same places and passed each other in the hallway, but I never looked his way. And we certainly never uttered a single word to one another.

That night, at a local Mexican restaurant, I wasn't sure what to make of my meeting with little Jacky Bryant who was all grown up now and sitting before me. So far, it was just the two of us, and I was secretly hoping someone else would show up soon because, well, I felt a little awkward. Sure, we knew each other from childhood, but that was over twenty years ago, and like I said, we weren't really catching up as much as we were forging a new friendship. Before our meal arrived, I hurried to the restroom to text my best friend, another classmate of ours. "Please come to happy hour, Tonia. It's just me and Jacky!"

My phone buzzed. "What happy hour?" she replied. And at that moment, I realized there never really was one. That sneak! I wrestled with my emotions. On the one hand I was sort of freaked out by his ingenious plan to hang out with me, and on the other, I was intensely flattered. Like I said, Jack is clever. And creative.

"What the heck," I thought as I returned to our table. "I am kinda hungry." I sat down with Jack and we both plowed through our fried avocados, rice and beans. Although you wouldn't know it from my size, I'm actually known for my freakish ability to suck food down like an NFL linebacker — along with any of my companion's leftovers if they'll let me. With a raised eyebrow, Jack leaned in and pointed to my empty plate. "How do you eat like that and stay looking like that?"

"Oh, I don't always eat like this," I replied, embarrassed, "and I work out at the gym with a trainer."

Jack, who'd been struggling with his weight, alcohol, and an addiction to cigarettes, looked me in the eyes and said, "I'm going to do that."

"Sure you are," I thought.

We went on to talk about the last twenty years, marriages, divorces, relationships, fitness, and pet peeves that night. Tonia never rescued me, by the way, but by the next time I glanced at my phone, much to my surprise, four hours had passed. And even though our lifestyles were still very different, I found myself sort of liking little Jacky Bryant. To be quite honest, though, I didn't really put much stock in his fitness announcement that night. Judging from his Facebook page, I knew he still partied a lot, and much like I felt in our youth, I just didn't think I could keep up, nor did I want to. I dismissed our dinner as friendly, and I didn't give him a romantic second thought.

A couple of days later, he posted on Facebook that he'd prepared his last unhealthy meal because he'd joined a gym. "Hmmm," I thought, but fitness resolutions can be a dime a dozen, and again, I really doubted he could change the routine he'd had for the last twenty years overnight. Boy, was I wrong!

I saw Jack a few weeks later, but by this time, he'd sweated his way to a twelve-pound weight loss. At over 250 pounds, and no taller than me, it was just a small dent in the work he'd planned to do, but for the first time, I caught a glimpse of his determination. This man was serious.

Jack quit smoking and drinking, and he followed a food plan. He went to the gym religiously, and then he made an appointment with Todd, my trainer. Jack likes to joke about the first time we worked out together because when Todd put us through the exercise mill, he almost puked while I was still going strong. Jack, who lived about two hours from me, returned home and continued with Todd's workouts. One day, months later, and after we'd been dating for a while, he shared his motivation for change.

"I wanted to get healthy for a long time," he confided, "but it's hard when you're stuck in that cycle day in and day out. I didn't know anyone who worked out, didn't hang out at a bar, and didn't smoke cigarettes. When we met that night for dinner, I went home and poured all the beer out of my cooler. I printed out a picture of you from Facebook, put it in a frame by my bed, and every morning when I woke up, I looked at you and thought, 'To get a quality girl, I have to be a quality guy.' You're the kind of person I've wanted to be with my whole life. That's what motivated me to get my life straight. You didn't know it at the time, but when I met you for dinner, I was still hungover from the night before. You were my inspiration, and you saved me."

My mouth fell open. That is probably the most special compliment any man has ever paid me. Over the next year, Jack lost seventy-five pounds, gained some serious muscle mass, sobered up, and kicked nicotine. He says that I inspired him, but truly, I find him to be inspirational.

They say opposites attract, but those two teenagers from opposite sides of the tracks had a lot more in common than either of them thought. What I didn't know back then is that wild and reckless troublemaker Jacky Bryant was really just a big teddy bear underneath his rough exterior. What he didn't know is that goody-goody Vallory Jones was outgoing and adventurous underneath all that studying and good behavior. Today, almost three years after that make-believe happy hour, once an unlikely pair, we are now soul mates. Jack and I lift weights together, mountain bike, camp, cook, and a whole host of other things. We like the same music, the same foods, and we share the same thirst for life. We've faced my cancer diagnosis, his career change, and lots of other ups and downs, but his unwavering support and adoration have gotten me through the toughest of times.

Some say people can't change, but Jack has proven that people do. He insists that I came along at just the right time — a time when he'd been praying for his own transformation. We often laugh that it took us almost forty years to find each other when we ran in the same social circles for most of our lives. Sometimes I wish we could have known each other better when we were kids, but I realize now that reckless Jacky and goody-goody Vallory weren't ready to combine forces until they'd gone through twenty years of preparation for one another.

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