For great big bundles of ooey gooey lovey dovey-ness, you can go over to my wife’s website and read Chapter Tres and how her she officially started liking me. Here you will read a more practical and mature account of what happened that fateful night at Stella’s.
SQUEEEEEE!!!
But first, let me give another background to this story. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. The day I started dating the other girl was a fairly happy and confusing day for me. That evening, I saw Erin in the library on campus, and we chatted about the happy events of the day. Anyway, she confessed to me feeling really paranoid. Apparently, there was this guy from her freshman year who seemed to like her, and she really couldn’t stand him, or at least, didn’t really care for him that way. But she was really REALLY kind of freaked out and wondered if God wanted them to hook up and get married. She was afraid that God was going to make her marry a guy she really didn’t care for. (Cut her some slack, she was only 19. Plus, all of her friends were starting to hook up, and when that happens, paranoia tends to set in, especially if you are not the one hooking up.) I gave her some advice, and I really wish I could remember exactly what I said. I remember saying to her something like “I don’t think God would be that mean, to force you into a marriage with a guy that you don’t like. You are a great person, and I just know that God has someone out there who is just perfect for you, and He will bring him to you.” Now that’s what you call ironic. I do, however, remember exactly what I was thinking. I remember sitting with her there at the table in the library thinking, “What an amazing, delightful girl. I wish I could date her….” and then immediately being overcome with a wave of guilt (I had, if you remember, just began dating someone else). Anyway, just so you all don’t think I’m some sort of two-timing cad, I was able to focus on my girlfriend for a while, and we did enjoy our time together and one day we realized (on the same day even) that things weren’t going to happen between us. And we were both relieved! We were amazed at God’s clear communication. I was happy to be a wild and free bachelor once again. I may or may not have skipped back to my dorm, but that is my little secret.
But even while I was dating someone else, Erin and I were good friends. Because I had pretended to get engaged with her a few weeks before that, we referred to each other as our “pretend” fiancée. (I actually had a friend who thought that we really were engaged, and then got confused when I was with another girl. Hilarious.) It was like we were always meant to be, from the very moment we met. God had brought us together, and there was nothing in the world that would ever drive us apart.
Flash forward (fear not, it is a good kind of flashforwad, not the creepy scary kind like on “Lost”) to THE night at Stella’s. It was an Epic night. It was a fateful night for both Erin and I. She tells of the story of what happened there on her blog. From my perspective, I was delighted to be sitting near her. I really tried hard to not like her as more than a friend. I couldn’t help it though, and I whipped out my monkey impersonation, in subtle attempts to woo her. I’m glad to see that it worked! I must say that I had no idea if she liked me our not. I remember her that night. I remember I thought she looked absolutely beautiful. Seriously, she took my breathe away.
She mentions a friend that was also riding in the truck had twisted her ankle. What if she hadn’t? What if I was in the front seat? Would our lives have taken different roads because of that, and we would never have hooked up? Have I been watching too many episodes of “Lost”? Anyway, I remember having so much fun that night, and then going around looking at Christmas lights, and then the mad dash back to the dorms to be in time for curfew. I was a few minutes late, and we ALL had to go bathroom in extreme measures. I remember flying into the dorm and my RA was there to great me at the door. As he began to say “So why are you late-” I rushed past him yelling “I’LL TELL YOU IN A MINUTE I REALLY HAVE TO GO!!!!” Then it was the 30 yard dash for the toilet.
That was one of the happiest nights of my life. And I didn’t even fully realize why. I just remember in those following days, that I wanted nothing more than to be with Erin, to be next to her, to walk with her, to spend time with her. And my stomach hurt, and I had some sort of dizziness all day so OF COURSE I must be in love, right? It was all very confusing. If only my sister had been there, she would have pointed out the extreme obvious.
However, it was much more fun to do this on my own. The weeks ahead will plunge you all into the depths of SCHMOOZEY WOOZEYNESS. I promise.
Oh goodie.


















