My Fairy Tale

Now, those that know me can testify that when it comes to stereotypes of the typical woman, I'm rather Jekyll/Hyde on the matter. I am very much a women-can-do-the-same-thing-as-men-and-we-do-it-in-heels uber feminist that likes to camp, get dirty, and the like--but I am also the epitome of the girly-girl who likes sappy chick flicks, getting dressed up, favorite color is pink (like you couldn't tell), and cry at the drop of a hat.

I love the fairy tale ending--the guy gets the girl and they live happily every after. I always dreamed that my life would be have that fairy tale, and the cool part--it does!

My dating life was, shall we say, interesting. Several long distance relationships, sleazebags, a few "Christian" guys, and there's the ones that I find out years later are gay (yeah, we're not going there...). There was a point in my life when I had heard (but not listened) to God's call to officership that I knew I would not be a single officer. It's one of those things that I just "knew"--can't really put it in words, it was just the way it was. I interpreted that to mean that I would be married before training college. So, I set out to meet a Christian guy that was called to officership. Such a disaster...pretty funny stories for another day.

I wanted so badly to follow in God's will through my calling, and just didn't understand that if God called me to a specific purpose, then He would fulfill the needs that had to be in order to make it happen. I was engaged to another man, someone that I had brought to the Army and he enrolled as a soldier--and was called to ministry, just not officership. So, we started down the path and it disintegrated before it started. It was not a good match, but we were determined it would work because this had to be part of God's plan. (I never deny that I've had my delusional moments in life) As we went on, it just got bad--and things ended badly.

I was crushed. At that point I was so frustrated in trying to get the details in place, that I had lost focus of God's will. When that clicked, I had to give in--it was time to pursue the end result and let the chips fall. So, I rushed to the end of the application process and was accepted to the college for officer training a year before I had expected to attend. Little did I know, that was part of the plan.

Once at CFOT, I resigned myself to the fact that I was single, and would likely be that way for awhile. I tried to become okay with that, and it never 100% settled in me, but it did to the point where I could accept it...I read books like "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" and other books on Christian courtship, etc. I had convinced myself that while at CFOT there was no chance that I would meet someone.

Well, I started to lighten up--and actually was trying to be flirty and show my interest in another individual when my hubby came on the scene. My husband and I were sessionmates, hung out with the same people, and were pretty good friends. People think we joke when we say it was a disaster that brought us together.

Our second year in training college, the cadets were deployed on disaster services during fires in SoCal and we were on the same team that went to San Bernadino. I was having issues with another person on our team, so I made my hubby swear that he wouldn't ever let me be alone with this individual while we were gone. We rode in the same vehicle, spent a lot of time working together, etc while we were gone.

When we returned to the training college, he called me and asked me if I wanted to go to the movies and dinner...well in the way that he asked me, it sounded to me like our other friends would be coming along too. Then in the end when I met him at the van, it was just him. Okay, sure...dense me was thinking nothing at this point. We had dinner at a diner and joked around and saw a movie, something I would not have chosen--i kept jumping at the gunshots and such, and he would lean over and ask me if I was okay. Afterwards, we were driving around and ended up at the pier in Long Beach walking around for hours talking because we didn't want to go back to CFOT (CFOT was not a positive experience for either of us--another story for another day). Randomly in conversation, he would make comments like, "you smell really good." or "I like your perfume." Being dense, I didn't think anything of it. Even at the point where we were standing inches apart talking and a slight breeze would've made our lips touch, it still didn't occur to me what was happening.

The next day we had decided to spend the majority of the day in the library to finish our mandatory study time (again, long story). It was only us in the library that day, and we didn't do a lick of homework. We messed around on the internet and joking around and just being loud--good thing the librarians liked us. Somehow in conversation we decided that we were hungry and decided to drive around Redondo beach looking for a good restaurant. We ended up at this little Thai place and then walked around Redondo Pier and Harbor. At one point we stopped at the end of the marina where people's personal boats were and we just stared out straight ahead at the boats, leaning on the railing. And the conversation went like this:

*Awkward Pause*
Hubby: So...are we dating?
*Awkward Pause*
Me: Um...I don't know. What do you think?
*Awkward Pause*
Hubby: Well, I think we should.
*Awkward Pause*
Me: Okay then, it's settled.
*THE LONGEST 30 SECONDS EVER!*
Hubby: *Puts arm around me and comes close, turns my face towards him, and gives me the kiss to beat all other kisses, and leans his forehead against mine, whispering:* I Love You.

Completely blindsided, I can revisit this conversation and kiss in my mind with perfect clarity and the soundtrack to accompany it. Talk about the fairy-tale ending, who whudda thunk it? Out of anything in life that I could have anticipated, this was not it--and that's why God's working in life is so amazing!

I had submitted myself to His will, not sure how the details would fall into place, and God showed me that the details didn't matter--He would work it out.

And 15 months from that conversation, we were married in the chapel at the training college with many of our sessionmates, family, and friends present. We celebrated our first anniversary in January 2010--and decided that if we could survive this last year, we can survive anything together (we faced more than many face in a lifetime last year). We can't imagine our lives any different than they are now--talk about a tailor-made match from God, we are the perfect pair. I love my husband more and more everyday. As it says in Song of Solomon (gasp!) 2:16a, "My lover is mine and I am his." No greater words ever written.

Now that is a fairy tale for the ages!



(Inspired by seeing the new movie, "Letters to Juliet," last night. Awesome movie)