Six years ago today was the first day of my life. (Well, I guess it started a few months prior, but it was official August 27th of 2004.) I was only 19. That seems so young to me now.
Gary picked me up at Maddox (my dorm at OBU) in his teal Ford Ranger. I was nervous. We had been out a few times before, but this time was different. We had talked every night that summer after he got off work. Most nights 2 or 3 hours. We talked about everything, and I felt like I knew him well. But he was living in Arkadelphia that summer, and I was in Little Rock. I worked all day at a summer day camp, and right about the time I got off, he went in to work at Walmart until midnight. There wasn't a lot of time for us to see each other face to face, so we made the best of our phone time, asking all kinds of questions to get to know one another.
The most time we had in person was on a road trip to St. Louis with 3 of my high school friends (that's where the picture above was taken, our first picture together). We were broke and we all wanted to do something fun together before we went our separate ways. But, one of our friends backed out at the last minute. We couldn't afford the hotel unless we split it 5 ways, plus now that Brian wasn't going that left our friend Jeremy as the only guy. We couldn't think of anyone, and one of the girls (who knew I had been talking to Gary every night and was convinced he was a "perfect guy" for me) mentioned Gary. After trying all of our other friends and being turned down, I called Gary to see if he wanted to come. He had to work, but he wanted to come so badly he called Walmart and told them his great grandmother had died and he needed go to the funeral. (That's bad, I know, but I gotta be honest I thought it was really cute.) We had a lot of fun together, and it was good to have some time to hang out in person.
A few nights before I moved back to school he asked me if I wanted to be his "girlfriend". Me, being the overanalizer I am, worried that if I said yes, I might find I didn't view him the same once we were face to face every day. It was one thing to talk on the phone every night, but it was another to be stuck in a small town together. What if he drove me crazy when we were around each other every day? What if I didn't like his friends, or even worse, my friends didn't like him? I just wasn't ready to commit to this thing just yet. So, I tried to explain that to him as best I could. Gary, being the understanding person he is, agreed to give me some more time.
When we got to school, it didn't take long for me to grow more attached to his sense of humor and cute smile. The more time we spent sitting in the bed of his truck talking, the more I knew he would at least be one of my very best friends from college. He would ask me almost every day after we got back if I was "ready yet?" But, I still wanted more time to figure out if the love I had for him was just "that appreciation you have for someone who understands you completely", or that feeling you get when you meet the person you cannot live without. I was about to get the opportunity to find out...
After a few nights of deep conversation, face to face, it became apparent he had made up his mind he wanted nothing to do with being merely "one of my very best college friends". He wanted something deeper than that, and that anything less would be too hard to accept. He began detaching himself from me. Calling me less and avoiding me on campus. I could feel myself loosing him. Not getting to see him or talk to him made me feel like part of me was missing. What had I done? The first person at OBU I felt like truly understood me, (I had a difficult time adjusting to life at OBU, finding my niche, ect.) and I ran him off.
I had to do something. So I sent him a text telling him I wanted to start over, go out on a real date and see what happened. So that's why I knew the pressure was on when he picked me up. Either the date would go well, and I would give him what he wanted: a commitment. Or, I would watch him walk away and try to forget about me.
When he picked me up we drove to Benton. We had dinner at Dixie Cafe, and then went to see Collateral at the movie theater next door. We got all caught up after having not spoken for a few days, and he held my hand during the movie. I knew by the butterflies I had, that he would be more than just my friend.
When he pulled back up to my dorm to drop me off, things got quiet. I stared nervously out the window, not knowing what to say.
He broke the silence and asked if he could kiss me.
I said yes, closed my eyes and waited.
When his lips touched mine, I knew he had been right all along. We were best friends, but there was also so much more.
Later that night, I lay in my bed telling my roommate, Laura, about our first kiss. About that time my phone rang. It was him. He wanted to know if I was ready now? I told him I was.
That day began a journey. In April of 2006 he asked me to marry him, and in January of 2007 we said our vows. We have done and seen so much together, but I know we still have so much more to experience. I am so thankful that God gave me a best friend, someone who "gets me", but also a lover to live life with and grow old beside.
