Hi there, ya’ll! I hope everyone is bundling up and staying warm now that it has cooled down a bit in the Deep South! This is such a wonderful time of the year and I find the world just a little more magical when the air is chilly and the Christmas decorations are out. I think that everyone is just a little nicer to strangers and a little less focused on themselves. I’m looking forward to being at home with my family and my sweet husband to be. You see, Matt and I have been a long distance couple for the last 3 ½ yrs. I feel a story coming on. Who would like to hear a story about the way we met and how we have come to live 220 miles apart for about 9 months of the year? I might break it up into parts-I know yalls time is precious and it’s quite a story.
How We Met
Matt and I met at church. We both did and still do attend College Park Baptist Church. During the summers when the little kids were having Vacation Bible School, the youth group always helped out the elderly in the church with around-the-house chores. So on the day when I first met Matt, we were doing yard work at a little old lady’s house. This little old lady happened to live a hop, skip, and a jump down the street from Matt. So, in our ignorance, we hadn’t really planned on heavy yard work and this lady’s yard needed some heavy yard work so we walked down the street to borrow some extra rakes from Matt. He answered the door having just rolled out of bed (It was summer vacation, after all) with a sleepy grin and a cowlick. I recognized him; we went to school together but I had never ever talked to him or really noticed him either. So in a few minutes he showed up with a rake and his lawnmower. With his masculine sensibility, he said that there was no reason we should rake up three feet deep of leaves when he could just pick them up with a lawnmower. So this would be a good place to stop and comment on the fact that Matt and I didn’t really experience love at first sight. But you know, sometimes love is just like that!
Side note, but important detail, to the story. My best friend at the time was a lovely energetic girl that had “that” effect on men. She grinned and the boys looked upon her tan face, wild highlighted-by-the sun hair, and athletic build and the rest was history. A few weeks later, the boys hung their hats up heartbroken. She was a great friend and we had a ton of great times together. So how does she factor into this story, you ask. Well, lets just say that Matt was one of the guys.. That’s right, Matt took one look into her eyes and he was in serious like. I never had a chance. I hadn’t exactly grown into myself just yet. I was a little chubby with a sloppy sense of style and glasses. But all’s well that end’s well, right?
Well, after the youth group spent all day working on this yard, we had to go. But not Matt, he stayed and finished picking up the leaves and then cut and hedged her yard. He didn’t have to, but he did. That was what did me in. He was kind and funny and he didn’t give me the time of day so I was hooked. I spent the next 4-5 years, on and off, trying to get his attention. Eventually, I did, but in between, we grew into best friends. When that best friend of mine broke his heart, I gratefully picked up all the pieces with a comforting and listening ear. When I got dumped by a guy that I thought hung the moon, Matt told me I could do better. I told him about high school drama and he offered the male perspective on life. We flirted and laughed and over time, I couldn’t imagine life without him. Fortunately, by then, he couldn’t picture life without me either..
As our relationship has grown, we have had our good times and our terrible times and everything in between but that is a story for another day. I hope you have enjoyed this little piece of us and I hope you come back for more! Love ya’ll!
