Hay Bales to Highways Chapter 6: Willing, Wistful, Waiting and Wondering

Catch up on the rest of the story here....

For our first *real* date Mr. Wonderful and I went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant (Fridays) and to see a movie. Dinner was yummy and the movie was...well, awkward--so awkward that it would make a great awkward moments story but I'll just give you the reader's digest version and say that the first scene was a rather graphic, inappropriate, sex scene. Yikes. I shrank about 15 feet below the surface of the earth and covered my bright-red-ican'tbelievewe'rewatchingthisonourfirstdate-face and counted the seconds until it was over. Luckily the rest of the movie was totally normal. Don't even get me started on how annoying it is to have a fabulous movie with one awful scene.....Anyways!

We went out a few times a week for a few weeks and talked on the phone and all of those fun early-dating rituals. Things were going well and Mr. Wonderful asked me to the homecoming banquet where ALL of our friends were going to be. I was excited to go, to buy the dress and do the hair but feeling a little strange about it all because we hadn't really defined our relationship yet. We were just in that going places and having fun stage, ya know?

The day before homecoming Mr. Wonderful and I went out to dinner ( my favorite place again) and he slid a card across the table to me. I thought it was a little odd to be given a card for no particular reason from someone sitting directly across from me but got over it and opened it anyways. I wish I had a scanner so I could share this card with you--it was the sweetest thing I had ever read. Mr. W had written down all of the things he loved about me and how much he enjoyed spending time with me and had scrawled a thermometer type scale at the bottom of the page where I could "rate our relationship" from stone cold, just friends, dating, engaged etc.

It was perfect.

He was perfect (and is).

I love that our relationship began in such a formal, shy, conservative, PURE way. I told him I definitely wanted to date him exclusively and was able to sing from the rooftops (or through the dorm hallways) that night that we were "exclusive!"

I was a girlfriend to the greatest boyfriend ever. It was totally fab. Oh and in case you're interested the date was October 7, 1999 (forever emblazoned in my memory) =)

The next night at homecoming Mr W introduced me for the first time to some of his friends as his girlfriend and I was on cloud nine. It was a fabulous night! We were having so much fun with our friends! Nothing could dampen the evening!

Well, except for when we sat down to dinner an acquaintance of ours asked loudly in front of all our friends, "So, S, where do you see this relationship going?"

Oh man was I embarrassed! We had been an item for all of 5 minutes and were already getting grilled about where things were going...I mean, I had my ideas but weren't ready to discuss them with the Cedarville world!

We awkwardly changed the subject and enjoyed the rest of our evening. Although now, Nicki's question was ringing in my head--where was this going? Was this "it"!? *The* relationship! I decided it was better to enjoy the time we had together and worry about things later.

We spent the year going out frequently, attending church together, shopping, drinking coffee (and me spilling coffee), shopping, late-night-phone-chatting and just enjoying each other's company. Mr W was so fun and good and kind and *cute* and I was starting to feel that I loved him.

But he was mysterious.

And I was young.

I just wasn't sure if he really felt the same way about me as I did about him and was concerned that maybe things weren't going as well as I'd thought. It was weeks into our relationship before he sat down and formally asked my permission to hold hands! I mean, who does that? It felt so important and exciting and SPECIAL. (I always feel exciting and important and special when HE is around....).

I knew he was being respectful and careful but we'd dated for months and hadn't kissed! Or made any declarations of affection! However, I really felt that it was important to let him take the lead in our relationship and that translated into a lot of waiting.

and wondering.

and hoping....