--- title: "Love at First Sight" date: 2026-01-26 author: "Laurie Stroud" featured_image: "https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Walt-and-Hannah-currently.jpeg" categories: - name: "Outdoors" url: "/category/news/entertainment/outdoors.md" tags: - name: "Featured" url: "/tag/featured.md" --- # Love at First Sight **The Great Outdoors** Hannah and I met as college freshmen at the University of Montevallo. The campus has a quiet grandeur. Frederick Law Olmsted- the same landscape architect behind Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, and the Biltmore Estate- designed its central core. From the Main Quad, the land gently slopes past King’s House and spills into the President’s lawn, known as Flowerhill. When Olmsted designed the campus, he transplanted at least one of every native Alabama tree species known at the time. More than a century later, much of that vision remains. We loved being outdoors, and the campus made that easy. We often sat beneath the trees near the ATO Rock or spread a blanket on the Quad. On one particular spring afternoon, we wandered over to Flowerhill. The day before, it had rained, and the grass glowed green. The oak trees lining the hill were just beginning to leaf out, and beneath them, azaleas stood thick and plush, pink buds hinting at what was coming. “It won’t be long before they bloom,” Hannah said. Trying to make conversation through the nervousness of a new romance, I asked, “Do you think they call it Flowerhill because of the flowers?” She didn’t know- but I think my interest impressed her. We laid out a blanket halfway up the hill. To our right, a group of students tossed a Frisbee in an easy rhythm. To our left, a study group of girls worked in perfect synchronization- listening, writing, heads lifting and lowering together. Across the road, my fraternity brothers grilled ribs and chicken… the sweet smell of the hickory smoke drifted over and mocked our humble picnic. [![Walt and Hannah in college](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Walt-and-Hannah-in-college-214x300.jpeg "Walt and Hannah in college")](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Walt-and-Hannah-in-college.jpeg)Walt and Hannah Merrell met and fell in love at the University of Montevallo.[![Walt and Hannah currently](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Walt-and-Hannah-currently-225x300.jpeg "Walt and Hannah currently")](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Walt-and-Hannah-currently.jpeg)The couple married in 1998.That picnic had come courtesy of the university cafeteria. I’d sweet-talked my way into a square of aluminum foil, grabbed a few apple slices, cheese, crackers, and a handful of homemade chocolate chip cookies… some of which mysteriously vanished before I picked Hannah up from her apartment. I also grabbed a couple of Cokes along the way. It was the perfect snack for a blue-sky spring day. I had a football too since I was eager to impress Hannah with my athletic prowess- which, in hindsight, was generously average. We tossed gentle passes. I pretended to tackle her, mostly as an excuse to hold her without the awkwardness of a hug. We fell laughing, landing face to face. My arm rested around her waist, her hands clutching the football. This was it- our moment. I leaned in. She puckered just slightly. And then sparks flew. Almost literally. I grabbed my forehead, stunned and writhing. Had she hit me? Was I bleeding? A crowd gathered. Voices overlapped, saying, “Are you okay?” I asked Hannah if she was alright. She was- unstruck and unkissed- trying not to laugh. “Do I need to go to the hospital?” I asked. “Not unless you want to file a report for being attacked by a frisbee,” she said. A frisbee. From the group beside us. The crowd dispersed, apologizing. I muttered something under my breath about missing my kiss and rolled back toward Hannah, hoping to reclaim the moment, only to find her calmly eating a cracker. Perhaps in an effort to dispel my embarrassment, she jumped up, dancing with the football, teasing me. I refused to touch it. “It’s got girl-football-dance cooties,” I said defiantly. She laughed and ran. I chased her, caught her, lifted her off the ground, and announced the play like a radio broadcaster. We were laughing hard now. I had another plan. I told her to back up. “I used to long-snap in high school. Watch this.” I talked it up, maybe too much, asking her to step back even farther. I snapped the ball with everything I had, and that’s when my cut-off khaki shorts- held together by years of wear and a rope belt- gave up entirely. They ripped from tailbone to inseam in one dramatic surrender. Hannah had a front-row seat. She collapsed in laughter. I grabbed what fabric I could, desperately trying to preserve modesty as every eye turned to her laughter. My fraternity brothers noticed too. “Hey, Walt!” one hollered. “I didn’t know you were bringing Boston Butt to grill!” Mortified, I retreated to my truck. Hannah followed, laughing so hard she could barely walk. Years later, she still tells the story. She always reminds people that I was known to go commando—and that when those shorts split, my backside shone “as white as the moon.” The room always erupts in laughter, and I smile sheepishly. But she always ends the same way. “I wasn’t laughing at him,” she says. “I was falling in love.” And we did. 30 plus years of the ups and downs of romance and marriage have passed, and each day we try to fall in love a little more. Every time I tell this story, I’m reminded that God doesn’t necessarily start with rainbows and roses. Sometimes it’s cloudy and dark, or dizzy and embarrassing… but a full moon will always be enough to light the way! *“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”* John 1:5 *-Walt Merrell is a Christian Outdoorsman who writes of his adventures with his family, with the hope that others might be inspired and encouraged to embrace God’s tapestry, otherwise known as the great outdoors, as a means of finding Common Ground. You can follow him at Shepherding Outdoors on FB, YT and IG and at [shepherdingoutdoors.com](http://shepherdingoutdoors.com).*