For 17 years: the break up...installment two

The more I got to know Lee, the more I was sure he was the one.

I fell in love with him, not for his good looks, although he is incredibly handsome. Not for his amazing musical talent, even though a girl could fall head over heels for that reason alone, such is his talent. Not for his athletic skill and ability, except for that one time in ping pong...

While all these and more attracted me to him, what kept me "stuck" on him was his deep, abiding relationship with Jesus. Ask anyone who knew Lee in that season and they would tell you that there were not many like him, with such an uncompromising passion for the Lord.

And I knew he was to be mine. I will even go so far as to say that God told me.

[Another funny story would be to tell you that I actually told him that not long after we started dating. His then roommate would tell you that it just about sent Lee into a panic and running in the opposite direction.]

When I mentioned to Lee that I was finally writing out our story here, he reminded me that our first "official" date happened on a weekend that he went out with 3 girls - each on a different night...rare for him since he had technically sworn off any romantic involvement. I was the final one on his "dating spree" and we spent an evening out at Joe Poole Lake where we watched the sunset.

*sigh*

He received no end of grief from some of his closest friends who were aware of his commitment to no relationships and absolutely no PDA, especially kissing. When one of his friends heard about our date, she blurted out, "Well, did you kiss her?!?"

For the record, I was the only girl he dated from then on. And no, we didn't kiss on that first date.

This date was followed by many more which almost always included a DTR (determining the relationship). So...what were we? How serious was this? Were we keeping healthy emotional and physical boundaries?

Maybe because I shared my heart too much or maybe because Lee's heart had to wrestle through some stuff first, after a couple months of dating, we decided to go back to being just friends. Actually, Lee said, "You'll make a good wife for someone someday." To which I replied, "I'll wait until God tells me I'm not for you."

And wait I did. And hang out we still did. A lot. Ping pong, racquetball, prayer meetings and Bible study...life continued "as usual" just without the dating element.

But it just about killed me.

Every time we met to pray, I would grow more and more convinced that this was the man I wanted to marry. I finally told the Lord: "Give him back to me or get him out of my life."

We already know the answer to that prayer. I have a ring and pictures and six kids as proof that the Lord gave him back to me. But how did it happen?

You'll have to come back again for installment three: "the balloon"

[installment one] [installment two] [installment three]