For lack of a better word...I am "courting!"
And here is the story. :)
It was September 6, 2006. I was busy with my schoolwork and guys/love/marriage was the farthest thing from my mind. In fact, I had recently come to the conclusion that such things would probably not be a part of my life for a long while, so I was intent on getting back into my college classes and being a more active support here at home. I was in no way looking for something to happen. But then it did.
The phone rang.
It was Melody!
And she immediately began with a rather shocking proposition.
"Remember that midwife friend I have told you about? Well she is looking for a wife for her son! He asked his parents to look, because he hasn't been able to find any nice girls himself. We were thinking maybe such and such person would work with Caleb. What do you think about such and such person? We thought we'd ask you about her because you know her better than we do. Would you mind talking to Maureen? Here, I'll three-way you in!"
Next thing I knew I was in a three way phone call with Melody and Maureen. It was quite hilarious and from the beginning! Within minutes it was concluded that such and such person and Caleb wouldn't work at all, but as we talked I found that my family had QUITE a lot in common with the Dahl family. And Caleb didn't sound so bad either! Maureen noticed this commonality as well. The next thing she asked was "So Lizzy, do YOU want to get married??"
(Thinking: LOLOLOL!!!! I can't believe this!!!)
Replied: "Um...yeah."
"Well would you be willing to email my son?"
(Thinking: Wow. This is nuts!)
Replied: "Well...yes. I suppose so. If nothing else ya'll seem like a cool family and I'd like to get to know you all better."
(But thinking: Yeah right, it'll never work out. However, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to make new friends...)
After that amazing phone call, Maureen sent me some photos of Caleb, to see what I'd think. I didn't find him repulsive looking, so that was good.
But I wasn't about to email him first. I really wasn't sure what I'd do about all of this!!
A few hours later I got another call from Melody.
"Lizzy, I have Caleb on IM!! Would you like to talk to him in a group chat??"
"What??! You are kidding!! Melody, what are you getting me into??! You are crazy! He probably won't like me anyway....but sure, I guess so. Might as well. It's not like I have anything better to do. Ha!"
So I got online. Melody told me a couple of his reservations about the whole thing, before we started chatting. This actually made me feel a whole lot better because I saw that we were both thinking along the same lines. Because of past hurts we were both rather cynical and skeptical about the whole thing. And it WAS rather awkward chatting, at first! But he seemed interesting enough, and from what I could tell we certainly did have a lot in common regarding beliefs, vision and the like. So that was cool. I was skeptical, but decided I would not be opposed to knowing him better. :)
Towards the end of the chat he was told that he should email me first, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do. So he wrote me an email that read simply
"HI.
chivalry is NOT dead
-Caleb"
Ha! My response was a rather formal email telling him more about myself. Later he told me that my email was so grammatically perfect that he just about fell off his chair! (The truth is that I was nervous I was stewing over every word I said - so no wonder it was perfect!)
...And so began the interest. ;)
As the weeks went by, this interest began to turn into a friendship. Especially after my dad gave us permission to start talking on the phone - with the understanding that we should meet as soon as possible, that we might properly assess the situation.
We met for the first time October 20th. It was really weird and akward at first! It was hard to believe that the person standing next to me was actually the guy I had been growing to like over the phone and through email. It was just hard to put the two together! But we went on a "date" Saturday, to the museum, to my sister's house, bowling and then a movie, and though the weird tension and awkwardness had not disappeared, I was starting to decide that I liked him in person as well.
After the movie we drove to dinner and talked about how odd everything was. Why couldn't we just act normal??! Then we both started freaking out a little. Caleb said he wanted to tell me something but he wasn't sure how I would react...and then I was REALLY scared, but I wanted him to tell what he was thinking! He said that I'd better show him where to drive, because he was about to drive off the road. LOL!
We arrived at Applebees and parked. Then we talked a good while. He said he was trying to decide if he should go forward with our relationship, that he was totally freaked out about it...but that he'd be an idiot not to. I said it felt as if we were about to jump off a cliff...but if he jumped, I'd jump. And in the course of our conversation, we somehow let eachother know that we both liked the other. :) Then everything felt so much better! No more awkwardness! We were able to relax, eat dinner, drink a beer, and just be happy about it all. We had a very good night.
It was a few days before I left for Melody's wedding, that Caleb and I became "official." And we had a fabulous time in TX together. I met his mom for the first time...it was great. The more I get to know him, the more I like him, and the more I find commonality and kindredness - and COOLNESS! And I know this is JUST the beginning!
Yes, I like my man a lot.
God is doing an amazing work in both of our lives, and I am so thankful!
