Where It All Began: PART 2

Part 2: How it all began (continued from Part 1, posted on Jan. 7)

So the summer of Rocky Mountain fun and adventure was coming to an end. John and I had been friends (well, maybe a little more…) for only three months; going back to college and back “to reality” was my plan, the only plan that I thought made sense. I had had the best summer of adventures, grown and changed as a person, and really valued my time with John. But in my heart, I knew that a long distance relationship wouldn’t work, and so it seemed that we must part ways. 

On the final night before my flight back to Chicago, John and I went for a walk. I remember we were quiet for some time; and then he told me he had made a decision.  
He said that he’d been doing a lot of soul searching this summer. It was true that he had a great job lined up back in Portland, and he was a Portland boy at heart and was excited to get back out West…but now, after this summer, everything had changed. If he watched me go tomorrow, he would spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been. 
He could live with failure, but not regret, so his plan was to pack up his truck and drive the opposite way from home and back to Michigan. Yes, back to the place he just left, to the place he swore he’d never go back to. He had no living arrangements, no job, and no plan; but, he said he knew this is what he wanted to do. 

My reaction was not what perhaps you would imagine. Honestly, I was a bit concerned because he was making such huge sacrifices to pursue this relationship. I just wasn't sure where we would end up, and to be honest it was a lot of pressure.

So I told him that I couldn’t make any promises. If he wanted to do this, I’d be on board, but we’d just have to see where it would take us. 

I’m sure this is the response every man wants to hear. But he said he understood, and so on we went.

So I flew home, and he drove the same direction. He spent a week in Chicago with my family, and for the first time, it was really just the two of us in a more "real life" setting. 
No more mountains or romantic sunsets or moose. 

But it was good.

I drove back to Michigan for my senior year and got settled into a house I was renting with several girlfriends. 
John was desperate to find a shelter…and something that was cheap. I don’t even know where he found the place he ended up living in. It was a dilapidated old house in a horrible section of town. His neighbors sat on their porches most of the day and smoked pot. Gun shots could be heard occasionally at night, and he got heckled every time he tried to park his car on the street.
 Nonetheless, he  found it acceptable and rented a room. He lived with several other random guys who thought trash collection happened in bags tossed behind their house. One of the housemates had a dog who wasn't house broken; so, whenever he went about his business in the house, his owner promptly covered it up with a piece of newspaper and stepped over it. 

Needing to keep his budget low, John’s room literally consisted of a single mattress on the floor. I think prison inmates had it better.  Needless to say, we didn’t hang out there all that much. 

He found a job about 30 min away and drove there everyday, battling through the tough Michigan winter of blizzards and ice; I continued my education and began to fill out paper work for my student teaching placement. We continued to enjoy each others company and made our memories in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

At the end of October, I flew to Portland to meet his family. I hardly heard of Portland, and I didn't know what to expect. I was nervous to meet his family. However, the week in Portland couldn't have gone better. He wooed me with all the best features and activities this city had to offer (and it was actually sunny that entire week!) And his family was so welcoming and loving, I couldn't help but actually feel sad to say good-bye to them at the airport! 

 By Thanksgiving he told me he loved me; by Christmas I knew I felt the same. 

At the end of March we were engaged. We waited a long 13 months to actually get married however, because I wanted to finish my student teaching in the fall and a winter wedding in Chicago just didn’t sound ideal. So we landed on the date of April 9, 2005.

We had a very innocent relationship in every sense of that word, so when our day finally arrived, we were beyond excited to finally wed, travel together, and combine our living quaters. 

April 9, 2005 was the most perfect day in Wheaton, IL. The week prior there was a blizzard. However, on that Saturday it was 70 degrees, sunny and the tree in front of the reception hall had blossomed overnight. 

We felt like God truly blessed our union that day.  We were content to now live together finally in our 500 square foot apartment in Grand Rapids. We ate dinner on an old desk with folding chairs and we talked about our dreams for the future. Life together as a family had begun, and we couldn’t be happier.

John has always been a hard worker, for me, for us. Even in Colorado, I knew he cared deeply about me and he would (and will) do just about anything to make me smile.  I am so far from perfect, yet he constantly sees beyond that and puts me first. And that is a big reason why I believe our marriage lasts. 

I think it’s important to remember that Love is definitely not a feeling. I mean, it is…but you can’t believe that you will forever FEEL the butterflies and Colorado sunsets every moment of everyday. 

It is a choice daily, an action that comes from a deep commitment.

In Colorado I learned that it is the oldest peaks that are the most beautiful. Generation after generation they stand in aged splendor, captivating in their strength and beauty. They've had the chance to change and mold with the seasons.  They've been windswept, perhaps consumed by fire, yet they remain strong;  it is in their unwavering strength that we see their radiance.
Likewise, with each passing year, our relationship will be windswept. We will no doubt experience avalanches, storms and perhaps some deep fires. But with all this, my prayer is that our relationship will always be a testimony to the commitment we made to  stand strong, side by side. 

I do daydream. I think back  to those carefree Rocky mountain summer evenings, and I am reminded of how it all began...and I'm excited by where it is going. 

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy,it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs,. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7