our love story, from his perspective.

did you read our love story last week?
for our anniversary, AJ gave me the best gift.
he wrote out how our story began . . . from his perspective.
if you follow my twitter you knew this was coming today....so here you go....how we began...take 2. :)

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Here’s my take on our LOVE story:

During the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I had sworn off all girls.  I had seen a short Rich Mullins documentary in May and decided that I liked his way of thinking.  I was going to be a Kid Brother of St. Frank and carry on Rich’s legacy of singleness, travelling, living simply, and ministering to people.  I decided that me being set on getting married someday was putting God in a box.  (This is the part where you snicker to yourself as you recall how foolish 19 year-old boys can be.)

When I got back to campus that fall, I determined that I hadn’t spent enough time with my teammates from the rugby team in the past year.  So I filled every weekend with the guys, no girls.  Ever.  It was awesome.  Sometime that semester, Young Life started and I remember that Sara came with her friends for the first time to be a leader.  She hadn’t impressed me the first time (Powderpuff; oh, the arrogance) so I didn’t pay much attention to her.  But she was funny and I was already friends with her friends, so we got along fine.  There’s the whole broken leg thing and the midnight movie thing that you all already know about.  I don’t have much to add to that except that it’s funny how someone you barely gave five minutes to one day, could suddenly become incredibly attractive to you.  She took care of me and was kind to me and she hooked me without realizing it.  Also, I can see why some patients fall for their nurses. :)

Well, obviously, my Rich-for-life plan wasn’t working out.  I amended my previous assertion to be that EITHER getting married or to being single put God in a box.  I was now willing for Him to lead me wherever He wished.  I know, that’s so generous of me.  So, fast-forward to January, 1999.  I was back playing rugby with a brace on my ankle.  We’ll come back to that.

Anyway, I really enjoyed hanging out with Sara at Young Life.  All of us would eat dinner before hand and if she was doing dishes, I would “reluctantly” volunteer to dry and put them away; anything to spend a little time with her.  She seemed to reciprocate my friendly advances, so I thought maybe I was onto something.  I determined that I would begin pursuing her, casually and slowly.  That’s how I roll.  Plus, I’m deathly afraid of failing, so I wanted to know for sure one way or another before I put myself out there.  I had no idea that she was seeing someone else at the time. 

One day, after a cold, muddy rugby practice, I came back to the dorm and walked through the common area.  Sara was there with some other guy.  Although I didn’t realize it at the time, I was wearing a secret weapon – a pair of short rugby shorts.  It may seem a little creepy for grown men to wear shorts with a one inch inseam as a sports uniform, but I’m pretty sure my bulging leg muscles caught her eye.  Plus, it’s Euro, so that makes it cool.  I, of course, noticed that she was with some other guy.  I was jealous.  I had no idea how much I really liked her until that moment.  That’s the night I confessed these things to Sara’s friend, who I thought was more my friend than hers.  I’m a little slow.

Three days later, that same dear friend said to me, “you should really consider asking Sara out.”  I told her that I thought Sara was dating someone.  She told me that, miracle of miracles, Sara had just broken up with the guy.  I didn’t realize until much later why that was.  Again, a little slow.  This was Thursday.

The next Wednesday was Young Life.  I had a plan to ask her out on the way home.  Another leader and good friend of mine, Luke, needed a ride home which would have ruined everything.  I told him that I needed a quiet ride home and why.  He found another ride and I was grateful.  I made some comment to Sara about how, “everyone seems to have left us for some reason.  That’s weird.”  And off we went.  I’m pretty sure I could literally see my heart thumping through my shirt all the way home.  We made a bunch of useless small talk because I was too nervous to ask her.  I pulled up to her dorm and I thought she would talk a bit but she just hopped right out and was almost two steps away before I blurted, “Sara, I have a question for you!”  Smooth.

I asked.  She said yes.  And I will neither confirm nor deny her allegations that I lingered there until she was out of sight.  The rest was history.  Except there’s a lot more.  Like how we determined early on in our relationship that there would be no cycle of breaking up and getting back together like we’d seen some of our friends do.  We were in it.  Period.  She was committed like a bulldog to us.  I liked that about her.  Still do.  Or how, I had to ask her dad three times for permission to marry her.  That was fun.  I think I finally wore him down like a four year old asking for candy.  Or how her biggest flaw is that she doesn’t have the same confidence in herself that I do.  I think that one might go both ways. 

It’s been a great 11 years, babe!  I am so proud to be yours.  Sometimes I feel like I’m married to a rock star.  Except for that part where we have a stable marriage and there are no photogs outside of our house at all hours of the day.  Other than that, you are a rock star and I am your biggest fan.

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