I never date all that much. My first girlfriend was a girl from high school, but be didn't get together until the summer after graduation. That lasted a few months, but being 18 and going to schools in different states, it didn't last. In college I dated a girl for almost two years, it was one of those relationship that went on too long, and wasn't a healthy situation. After we broke up I met a girl at a wedding, and we went out a couple of times, but nothing ever materialized.
When I graduated college I was single, and there was really no one I was interested in, but I was ready for a relationship. At one point early on in the summer I got set up on a blind date, and it was the most awkward experience I have ever had on a date. The circumstances surrounding that set up should have been warning flags, but I figured I had nothing to lose and so I went with it, and at least I ended up with a story, although now that I think about it, it really isn't that interesting.
I went on from there and tired to just be content. I'm not the most outgoing person, I'm a pretty big introvert, and asking girls out wasn't something I did. I always waited until I knew she would say yes, and only then would "risk" putting myself out there. At that point I wasn't anywhere where I met people, and I was uncertain about where my life was going as I was still looking for a job.
I went back to the church I had interned at the previous summer, and towards the end of July the youth pastor reached out to me and asked if it would be ok if she set me up on a date. Coming off of my previous blind date experience I was a little hesitant, but when I thought about it I realized this situation would be different, I still had nothing to lose, but this time the person doing the setting up actually knew me (it's part of the story of the disastrous first blind date). I said yes, and waited for details.
We met at the youth pastor's house and had dinner, then went to a birthday party for the pastor's son, and then got roped into babysitting the youth pastor and worship pastor's kids while they and their spouses went to a movie. The kids went to bed before they left, and we decided to watch Braveheart, or rather have Braveheart playing in the background since we figured we'd end up talking the whole time, which we did. We ended up spending about 7 hours together, and I was interested.
We had a couple weeks before she went back to school, she was going into her sophomore year of college, and we hung out a lot. Each time we talked and connected, and I became more and more interested. A few days before she went back to school we talked about what happened now, decided to try actually dating, but then a couple days later she decided she didn't want to be in a relationship. She moved back to school, and I decided to reach out to her.
We talked, and she expressed some hesitancy because she didn't know where I was at in terms of what I thought this looked like, and we decided we would just try to connect and talk when we could, seeing what happened. No label, no pressure, just seeing what happens.
We talked on the phone and texted, I wrote her letters, and things seemed to be going well. Then one day I got a letter from her saying that she couldn't do this right now. It was rough, I honestly thought she was the one, and it sucked getting that. I had never connected with anyone like I had connected with her.
My job search continued, and I got a call from a pastor in Michigan. I ended up accepting the job, and after processing the situation with her and my next steps with a job, I wrote her one more letter, telling her that I understood where she was at, and that if we only ended up as friends I was ok with that. I told her I had enjoyed meeting her and talking with her. She texted me after she had read it, thanking me for what I said, and then asked what I was up to. I told her that I was getting ready to move to Michigan, the state she happened to be going to school in. We started texting again, and when I had officially moved she texted me, "When are you coming to see me?"
We made plans, I made the drive, we met, talked, seem to reconnect, and I was looking forward to future visits, but that would be the last time I ever saw her...
Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11
TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!
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