Five years ago we said good-bye to each other after the end of an awesome, but sometimes awkward, summer. We left knowing we'd see each other again in 10 days. We left with lots of unanswered questions - was there something going on between us? Did he feel the same way I did? Camp was abuzz with lots of theories about us but no one had any concrete answers.
Five years ago I packed up my stuff and moved to another state for the first time. My third college in as many years. It was a big step of faith for me and one that seems to have panned out pretty well.
Five years ago I got those butterflies in my stomach every single time I saw him on campus. Since there were so many unanswered questions I was a little hesitant and unsure how to initiate contact or whether he even wanted contact with me.
Five years ago we agreed to go to a wedding for two of our very good camp friends. It was a 14 hour drive. I was both excited and terrified. That was a loooong time to be in a car with someone especially someone with whom I needed to still have the D.T.R. with. (DTR = define the relationship talk)
Five years ago we celebrated a beautiful wedding with many of our friends. Both of us were bombarded that day by people urging us to figure out what the heck was going on. They could all see where we were headed and apparently needed us to figure that out, too.
Five years ago the two of us had the longest 2+ hour drive EVER back to his parents house. So much was said to each of us that day and we both needed to process that.
Five years ago we started our long trek back to Minnesota. Two hours into our drive we finally started talking to each other. We finally both admitted that we should start officially dating. Whew...that only took a few months to figure out! ;)
I think both of us knew where we were headed once we made that decision to start dating. At least for me I knew, without a doubt, we would eventually be married. It didn't take us long at all to start discussing that possibility. You see we had worked and lived together at camp for four years. We knew each other very well. Two weeks into 'dating' we had our first serious discussion about getting married. Just three months after we embarked on the relationship venture together he had a ring although I wouldn't know that for awhile. Four months (January 7, 2007) later he proposed to me at camp, by the lake, under the stars. It was perfect.
On that September day we both, in a way, knew what would come next. We knew we'd get married. We knew we'd both finish school and work. We knew we'd have kids eventually. We knew we would buy a house somewhere, someday. Neither of us could have imagined that day that five years later we'd be living in little town Iowa, in a house we own with four (holy moly!!) kids.
September 4, 2006 @ our friends wedding
August 2011 - before heading to another wedding
Life definitely has not followed the well thought out plan we came up with and talked about five years ago. Life, as we've learned well, has a way of doing things it's own way and in it's own time. There have been very high highs and very low lows. There are days we would call each other our best friends in a heartbeat and there are days that we barely talk to each other but at the end of the day we both know we are where we are called to be. We both know we're together for a purpose - one that is bigger than we could ever imagine. We're thankful for our friends that saw what we couldn't and pushed us to figure things out. We're thankful that we serve a God who loves us, who provides for us (we've seen this over and over and over), and who has a plan for us.
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