Gettin' Together

Six years!  That's right, folks!  We've almost been married six years!  It still blows my mind a little, I'm not going to lie.  They say that if you make it to seven you're golden, because the first seven are the most difficult.  I'd say the first two were the most difficult, but who knows what year six may be like.  We shall see.

Anyway - it's all got me thinking about where this all began!  And, let's be honest, we have a somewhat unique relationship because of our age difference gap.  I mean, c'mon, for those of you who know us, it's a pretty huge gap.  (And a pretty funny unique story.  Only God could ordain this, I mean, seriously.)

So - I've decided to throw in some anniversary funness for you and for us to reminisce about the days of past. This will be a 3 part series, just so ya know ;)

Gettin' Together
It all started in a time long ago,   (ten stinkin' years ago!  Man, am I old!)  when I met him.  He was the skatin' rink guy (self-proclaimed), and I was a high school student.  (For - real, a just licensed HS student!)  I still remember being introduced by our good ole pal Kristin (ahem - thanks for that, btw).  She had something to discuss with said male and I was along for the ride.  I think they were making plans to play tennis?  Who knows.  

Anyway.  

He was down the side aisle of the town skatin' rink that he managed.  He was wearing some khaki cargo pants (because they were cool then - again, ahem), a button up collared shirt and a visor with a Jesus fish on it.  I loved Jesus, so that was pretty cool.  I stood there rather awkwardly (I mean, c'mon - I was a HS student, remember.  We didn't exactly hang out at the skatin' rink.)  He introduced himself, shook hands, and moved on with life.

All that really happened from that night - we both found out two things, I thought he was much younger, he thought I was much older (ouch.)  No feelings.  No thoughts. Nada.  (I was 'taken' at the moment, anyway.)

Turns out - more mutual friends worked for him at his skatin' establishment, and I found myself visiting more often to see youth group friends.

As some time went on he started hanging out with our church group some, eventually taking a position helping in the youth group (which I just happened to be in - again, ahem) and then being hired on part time in that position and worship.  Still no feelings, but friendship grew, I became single... and we were ICQ buddies.  (Uh-oh! Tee hee. Ok, that's only funny for those of you who knew ICQ.)

Anyway.  In this whole process I became employed by Aaron.  (Isn't there some unspoken rule that you should never have relationships with your employer or your youth pastor?  Ooops :) I should state that we did wait until I had graduated from the youth group!)  So we worked alongside one another a lot.

Also - in the meantime, Jesus and I were building this incredible relationship in my singleness!  I had been single for the first extended period of time since the 5th grade.  Seriously.  And though I may not have appreciated my singleness at that point, it developed me spiritually for what was getting ready to happen in my life.

And then the weirdness started.  It was my senior year of high school, in late fall at some point.  I'd known Aaron for a good period of time at that point, and I was feeling these, well, feelings start to develop and didn't have a clue what to do with them.  I mean - he was my employer and my youth pastor.  How taboo is that!? 

And so I started my quest to pray myself out of the feelings.  I mean, this couldn't be of God!  He'd never put us in such an awkward position, and I just knew he couldn't feel the same.  (What kind of person would that make him!?)  And so I prayed night after night, day after day, "God, please take these feelings away."  And I trusted that He would... and I re-directed the feelings I had into giving myself a great idea of what qualities I wanted my future husband to have.  (You know, the 'no exceptions' kind of qualities like loving Jesus above all else, even me.) 

And I prayed that for a long, long time.  Months.  And honestly, working so closely with Aaron, who I had before shared everything with (in our friendship), I found myself in awkward conversations with him where he would ask if I were interested in anyone, had anyone in my radar... etc.  Did I mention how awkward this was?  I couldn't lie to him, but I certainly couldn't tell him the truth!  So I told him that I wasn't pursuing anything, but that I'd let him in on all of it 'someday' (you know, when God finally took the feelings away, and I could tell him about the crush I once had on him and we could both laugh about it.) 

And it got more weird.  I loved spending time with him, mostly for the friendship, and people started picking up on things.  I'll never forget that a certain male (who will remain nameless in this particular post) sat in front of me in my Senior English class, turned to me in the middle of class one day, and asked if Aaron and I were dating.  Obviously, we were not, but what was it that he was seeing?  The conversation was short, but it ended with him telling me that he thought it'd be 'pretty cool' and he thought Aaron was a great guy.  (Seriously, would have never guessed this out of this particular individual.)  Our conversation left me with just one thought, "maybe people wouldn't think this was so taboo..."

And the 'someday' comments progressed with Aaron.  It turned into a game.  A very weird game.  A game that eventually felt like we both 'knew' something without 'knowing it.'  I valued his friendship to much to make things weird, so I was not talking, but God was not being faithful about taking those feelings away either.  If anything, they were getting worse.

Then the day came.  Aaron was, apparently, tired with the 'someday' comment, and when I mentioned it he was ready to talk.  I was not.  I fought the conversation for some time until I figured it wasn't worth fighting anymore. 

It took about 2 minutes to realize that God hadn't taken my feelings away, but had given Aaron reciprocating ones.  Great.  (I say this sarcastically.  We obviously couldn't be together.)

But Aaron had a different idea about it - and within a week or so we were sitting down with our Pastor to fill him in on this new information, and to tell him not to worry, we'd be waiting until I was high school.  (The longest six months ever.)

And the rest, they say, is history. 

Next up:  our wedding day.  Get us out of here!