Thursday, November 03, 2005

Can I wash your hair?

I can't quite recall the first time that Jason and I met although I do know that I was in Junior High which made him...well, older. We went on a church choir trip together, well, not together together, but we did ride on the same bus and he did flirt with me along with any other female that was on the trip. Yes, he is one sexy man! I will spare you the details (because Jason would kill me if I told you the things he said to me) but I will admit that I had the hugest crush on him, the kind of crush that young girls write about in their diaries. The kind of crush that makes your heart beat faster at the thought that he might be where you are going, or even better...where you will land.

Our lives continued, sometimes intersecting, sometimes on different maps, but God had a plan. We both were parts of other serious relationships, and not so serious ones also. I had some growing up to do and so did he.

When we started dating, I had just ended a college romance and Jason was not to keen on starting something with a college girl home for the summer break.

"This isn't going to be some summer fling that you just forget about when you go back to school in the fall. If we start this...I'm in it for the long run."

Summer is an electric time for new love. I remember the tangible anticipation I felt waiting for that first kiss that ended up being 2 weeks after our first "date." I remember when we aired our "dirty laundry". We spent a lot of time together, being with each other, getting to know each other and building a great friendship. We had creative dates like trips to the planetarium, walking on the beach, and picnic lunches. We were the only two people in the world that summer.

Summer turned to fall, and I went back to school. Jason was also still in school, so the long-distance relationship began. I am not a fan of these kinds of relationships, but you do what you have to do to keep what you know you can't risk losing. Things change when the mind is occupied with things other than the focus being entirely on the relationship, but if you don't work on it, you don't deserve it.

It was a long 2 years of driving back and forth. We weathered some scary times and dealt with unhealthy attachments. It was time.

The night Jason proposed, I knew it was coming. I didn't know his plan, but I already knew the result. He proposed at the end of our evening together while we were standing together at the end of my parent's dock over the river. Torches were burning and the summer moon lit the water. It could not have been more perfect or more "us".

Since we have been married our life together has been a whirlwind of jobs, houses, pets, children, and stress, but most of all laughter, spontaneity, and love. Love so deep, so high, and so big that nothing will contain it or compress it or devastate this love.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Shannon,
I have tears in my eyes, that was all to real.
I'll see you soon.
Love always,
Tiffany

Anonymous said...

This sounds so much like my love history. My fiance and I met in middle school, and we are in the midst of a long distance engagement while I'm going to school in Santa Barbara and he's in San Diego.

The thing that really surprised me is that he told me that exact. same. line. about how he didn't want it to be just a summer fling.

(Unfortunately, I did, but God's plan trumped mine. :) )


Kari