the night before i left for pre-season at iwu was ridiculously dramatic and romantic. we spent a long time at garden of the gods. we weren't breaking up, but he gave me permission to date any one i was interested in. we both cried. we put on these twine bracelet things to remind us to pray for each other and when he dropped me off i thought my heart was literally breaking in half.
i remember his first surprise visit to iwu so well. my brother was coming back to school (i had to be there 2 weeks early for pre-season) and i had a hunch that maybe, just maybe, dave was coming with him. i remember so much about that evening, how my hair was, what i was wearing and when i greeted my brother i nearly pushed him aside after he told me that there was a surprise for me up in his room.....and there he was!
we had quite the communication set up for our long distance relationship. this was pre cell phones, but he did get a subscription to this message service. we could call anytime and leave each other messages and listen to messages that had been left for us. i would check my messages every time i was at the gym for my phys ed class. that random phone hanging on the wall is etched in my memory. :) we also "i m'd" each night (which was so frustrating), we used calling cards once a week and wrote letters constantly.
i remember so vividly a conversation i had with my cousin's husband jesse, he laughed at how in love i seemed with this high-school sweetheart of mine... "this guy doesn't stand a chance with all these college guys you're about to meet. i'll give you 1,000 dollars if you end up marrying this dave kid."
some friends came home with me over spring break and we went skiing!
from the same ski trip. beau jo's pizza mmmmm.
that first year, i think he visited me two or three times (his dad is an airline pilot, so he could fly to indiana for free!). i have loads of memories in the indy airport, this was back when you could still wait at the gate and it was thrilling to see him come through those doors.
summers during college hangin with our old high school crew...
the end of summer right before our sophmore year was a little weird. something was "off" with us, and it scared me. i left for pre-season with a knotted stomach. a week or so after i'd been gone, he called to break up. with little sleep and a nauseated stomach, i somehow managed to get few those first couple weeks. we still talked once a week as "friends". i got a guy to teach me how to play the guitar and absolutely loved telling dave about how our lessons were going on our weekly sunday night chats. :)
he started dating someone. sort of.
i started dating someone. sort of.
it was an awkward time for my heart.
but God used it powerfully.
you won't ever be fully fulfilled in a guy, or in marriage for that matter.
you won't ever be fully fulfilled if your heart isn't completely given to me.
he didn't visit that fall and christmas break that year was painful. i met "the girl" and seriously wanted to punch her. i made my friend amanda sit out in the car with me and pray specifically "that mandy wouldn't hit that girl".
by february of that next year, we were dating again.
in the airport before i left for cambodia for 3 weeks (those are our dads)
when i got back from cambodia
our junior year he wrote me a song and told me "i love you" for the first time. he recorded the drums, the acoustic guitar, bass guitar and the vocals and gave me a cd of the song for christmas.
one christmas break when i made him dinner and a squirrel fell into the fireplace. true story.
it was the fall of 02 when i headed back to iwu for my last semester of college.
he visited once that fall and then came out again for my graduation.
college graduation
our family and my friends were brutal those handful of days around graduation. lots of hinting towards the obvious question of a proposal and things of this nature. it got a bit awkward between us and i remember he brought it up the night of graduation. "lots of people are hinting about us getting married, and i just want you to know that it's not our timing, it's not their timing.....it's God's timing....we'll know when we know." and i remember thinking "geez, dude, it's been almost 5 years...i think we should know by now."
little did i know he had the ring.
:)
3 comments :
I can still picture every detail of sitting in your van that night (and of walking into the guys' house). Those pictures bring back so many memories! Awesome but tough times
i LOVE "who am I" posts. love 'em!
ahhh! wow. a roller coaster. LOVE this!
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