An Evening Spoiled (?)

This morning I’d like to bring you up to speed on our ‘run up’ to anniversary time, which is August 1st.    Things are starting to crawl toward the ever growing celebration mark, both with cleaning and laying in supplies, but it’s fun and we feel like the goal is in sight.  Tony has recently been pointing out that almost no one in either family, with the possible exception of an aunt on Tony’s side, has made it to 50 years married. Tony’s folks, who were some of the most ‘in love’ folks we ever knew, only got to 49 1/2 years before Mom up and died!  

Of course we have to factor in the age we live in, better medicine, no wars, etc.  But also there’s a lot more stress, evil inputs into our hearts and minds (thank you Netflix!) and an increasing ‘me generation’ where entitlement rules, that’s growing all around us. All that to say we’re very very happy to still be on the same page after these many years.

So, last week we talked about ‘The Wink”, where we got interested in each other.  Unfortunately it wasn’t a Hallmark fairytale story ending after that, apparently we still had some stuff to work out. 

I went back to my boarding school after that summer and of course “Absence didn’t make the heart grow fonder”; in fact it was the opposite.  We had decided to go our separate ways before I left Colorado.  I was into my senior year and had big challenges to think about and he, well, he was a big College guy (actually that gap represented a lot of the problem).  Anyway, we went our way and did our thing.  

And in the process of all that, while I was still 17, I made a commitment to go into full time Christian work when I got thru university.  I go into this more in our upcoming book, Weaving Sunlight, but it was a REAL thing for me, giving my future to the Lord, and I decided then and there no guy I dated would know about this decision as I didn’t want to have to question any decision he might make in the future, ie: feel that he had made a similar decision because of me.  I also vowed that I would not abandon this decision and would not marry anyone who didn’t share it.  

The next summer, I had graduated, considered myself ‘on my way’, when Tony asked me out again.  We’d bumped into each other a couple of times and probably deep inside I knew that there was still a spark there somewhere  (again, expounded ad naseum in the book, but I’ll be brief here).  

My shocked reaction to him asking me out was, “Just friends?” to which he replied rather adamantly I thought “Oh! I wouldn’t have it any other way!" He told me later that he was dying on the inside but didn’t want anything to jeopardize the emerging relationship.

Somewhat taken aback that he didn’t seem that interested on a romantic level, I agreed.  And so this time, we took it slow and easy.  We went and did everything, learning to enjoy each other for what we were, and finding out we had a lot in common.  I got to know the guy behind all the bravado and he……..well, one night, July 31st, as he was dropping me at my house after we’d seen a movie, he said, rather nonchalantly, “Well, at the risk of spoiling a perfectly good evening,” then leaned way over to the passenger side and gave me a kiss!

Well, he sure ruined the evening, that’s for sure.  As much as I enjoyed the kiss, I went into the house with my head spinning. Remember my rule?  I wouldn’t tell any boy about my commitment to ministry and yet here I’d gone and fallen in love with a guy who I wouldn’t marry at this point.  He was headed straight for a career as an English teacher.

Maybe you wonder what happened?  

….. Stay tuned.  J

Marsha