How We Met

16 years old, on a Saturday night, all my friends are on dates. I am at home crying golf ball tears into my pillow while my Mom rubs my back and cries with me. And, I pray. "Lord, You know the man you have created for me. He is out there somewhere right now. Can you please send him to me soon? I am so tired of being the only one without a boyfriend." (I was a kid, what do you expect?) I was still praying that prayer 2 years and a few mistakes later.

Then, On November 30, 2001, after much protest, I agreed to go on a blind date with a "friend of a friend". Well, a blind "double" date, that is. After all, he could have been a serial killer or something. I believe those were my exact words. I did NOT want to date anyone. I was still nursing a broken heart from a high school romance gone terribly wrong. I wore a pair of Old Navy blue jeans (a size 8 HA!) and a red turtle neck sweater with a little sparkle to it. It was one of those days that my hair couldn't decide if it wanted to be curly or straight, so it ended up looking a little of both. I was nervous. My friends and I pulled into the Winn Dixie parking lot and I thought my heart was going to beat right out of my chest. My friend, Jennifer, thought that this guy and I would be "just perfect for each other". I guess she was smarter than I gave her credit for.

Then, he drives up, in a blue Chevy pick-up that is in my drive way right now. He swears it will be a classic someday. I know I had my nose pressed to the window of that white Mustang convertible like a kid looking through the window of a toy store. When he got out of the truck and came around to introduce himself, I knew! The moment I looked into those dazzling blue eyes, the eyes that our daughters have now, I knew that I would never spend another moment crying into a pillow wondering where "he" was. I was home!

We talked about everything that night. It felt like we had known each other all our lives. He told me of his plans and dreams. I told him of mine. We laughed and joked around. I laughed at him making up his own lyrics to the songs on the radio. He still does that. We went to a movie. Not that I can remember anything about it. I was too wrapped up in the excitement of it all to even notice that there were other people on the planet at that moment. It was just the two of us.

I floated in on a cloud right around curfew that night. 12:30 am. My Nana was sleeping over at our house. I guess the smile on my face gave me away too easily. Nana took one look at me and said, "He's the one, isn't he?" I will never forget that as long as I live. I argued, "Come on, Nana! It was just the first date! I don't know....GEEZ!" With a sarcastic roll of my 18-year-old eyes. But, in my heart, I knew it was true. And, I did know just that quickly.

That night, I cried golf ball tears into my pillow and prayed. Tears for the happiness and peace that overwhelmed me. "Thank you, Father, for sending him to me. I know that HE is the man that YOU created just for me. You sent him to me at just the right time!"

"He hath made every thing beautiful in His time: also He hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end."
Ecclesiastes 3:11