Last week I talked about my first meeting Aaron. This week I'm going to talk about falling in love with Aaron. If you didn't read it, scroll back to May 28th and see what I'm talking about. Once you read that, you'll see we weren't off to such an auspicious beginning. It was, however, a bit of a colorful one.
Once Aaron and Mike left that night with my cooler, I didn't think about too much else beyond Aaron. Most of that thinking was still the whole "Really, God? Are you SURE, God? Are you POSITIVE, God?" and things like that. To be sure - there were other things going on and for a while, Aaron and I didn't have any contact at all. I found out later Aaron had chatted with his sister about me and was positive I didn't like him. That whole back to him, I was rude thing again.
It explains why he stayed away from me, though. Although, now, in retrospect? Everything truly happened in God's good timing. He knew what we would both need and He knew when we needed it and He put it together. All we had to do was show up when He told us to show up, be obedient to Him and He took care of the rest.
We truly serve an amazing God.
In the month it took for us to start talking again (from that initial meeting), a lot happened. Mike and I became intricately involved in a scandal in our singles' group. That scandal didn't actually involve the two of us, instead involved two friends of ours - again, all of it God's working. I became friends with the woman before the man showed up in the group and when he did, Mike befriended him and by that, the four of us ended up being together a lot. A lot. Hence, when the scandal started, Mike and I were there.
Once Aaron and Mike left that night with my cooler, I didn't think about too much else beyond Aaron. Most of that thinking was still the whole "Really, God? Are you SURE, God? Are you POSITIVE, God?" and things like that. To be sure - there were other things going on and for a while, Aaron and I didn't have any contact at all. I found out later Aaron had chatted with his sister about me and was positive I didn't like him. That whole back to him, I was rude thing again.
It explains why he stayed away from me, though. Although, now, in retrospect? Everything truly happened in God's good timing. He knew what we would both need and He knew when we needed it and He put it together. All we had to do was show up when He told us to show up, be obedient to Him and He took care of the rest.
We truly serve an amazing God.
In the month it took for us to start talking again (from that initial meeting), a lot happened. Mike and I became intricately involved in a scandal in our singles' group. That scandal didn't actually involve the two of us, instead involved two friends of ours - again, all of it God's working. I became friends with the woman before the man showed up in the group and when he did, Mike befriended him and by that, the four of us ended up being together a lot. A lot. Hence, when the scandal started, Mike and I were there.
I rabbit trail but that one is of some importance. I won't go into super-detail about it because it's still fairly painful and friends were lost because of it. However, without that situation, and those events that lead up to that situation, it's doubtful Aaron and I would have held such deep conversations from the get-go. It probably would have taken us both a long time - if we had ever - to realize the other one actually was "quality people" if things hadn't happened the way they did.
The man involved in the scandal did something incredibly foolish and created a problem between himself and Mike. Aaron, in defending his friend, could see this man for who he was and called him on it. Mike, however, shocked Aaron by defending the other man.
How Aaron and I came to talk, though, involved a bbq with the singles group, held at my parents' home and my having an incorrect email for Aaron. When I discovered that Aaron hadn't actually seen the invite (bad email), I emailed him to apologize (once I was given the correct email) because I didn't want him to think I had snubbed him again. I already couldn't get him to believe I hadn't snubbed him the first time, I didn't want to compound it.
That email lead to a series of emails - joking emails involving silly conversations like time travel and such. It was fun to banter with someone via email. I have always thought that it is one thing to be witty in person - that is somewhat easy. You have tone, facial expressions and hand movements to help. To be witty in writing takes an entirely different skill. You have to evoke the emotion, will people to imagine the facial expressions and hand motions... all with your words.
Trust me... Aaron has that skill.
As our emails began to take a more serious tone, I started to realize I wasn't talking to some empty-headed "soft" type of man. I was talking to someone who was thoughtful, gentle, kind and genuine. Even when he was lambasting this gentleman for what he had done to Mike, Aaron showed incredible class. Nothing he said held even so much as a hint of dislike for the man himself, only for his behavior. Everything Aaron said inferred a desire for this man to be brought back around to realizing his need for repentance, to stop manipulating those around him and to make himself right with God.
That impressed me a great deal because I will tell you - my own anger over that whole situation made it incredibly difficult for me to continue handling it with grace and love. I wanted to lash out, I wanted to force people to see how wrong it all was.
The truth is - all but 3 people could see how wrong it all was, my friends knew I was in a difficult place but only Aaron loved me through it instead of advicing me through it. He was there when I needed someone to run to, to escape a situation that had me almost sick to my stomach I was so uncomfortable. Only Aaron didn't judge these people - or me - for all that was going on at the time.
He became the one - the one steady force in the midst of a lot of chaos. The one I could turn to in a human way to make sense of the nightmare. Trust me - I didn't turn from God to Aaron as my sole source of support. It wasn't that. It was - Aaron was the one person, the only person I could turn to and talk to about this - he knew the entire situation, both sides. He knew the impossible position I was in and he offered me a shoulder. A refuge.
In those weeks, too, Aaron and I had fun. Our first date was to the Seattle Art Museum. It was there he began to get an inkling that I might actually be attracted to him, that I didn't really hate him. To hear him tell it makes me giggle. I love how this man can make me giggle.
We talked and talked and talked and talked... Days turned into weeks and from June 18th (when we met) to August 20th (our first date), so much happened and from that first date forward we were inseparable.
Except for Labor Day weekend. That weekend, Aaron had to work at the Evergreen State Fair and I was off to Oregon with my mother. We talked several times, for as long as we could, throughout that weekend. On Sunday, when we found out my grandmother had slipped and fallen in the bathtub, he talked me through all of the fear and anxiety that came with wondering if we were going to get home to her in time, what she was going to be like when we got there and what came next.
He's been my steadying force on earth ever since.
The man involved in the scandal did something incredibly foolish and created a problem between himself and Mike. Aaron, in defending his friend, could see this man for who he was and called him on it. Mike, however, shocked Aaron by defending the other man.
How Aaron and I came to talk, though, involved a bbq with the singles group, held at my parents' home and my having an incorrect email for Aaron. When I discovered that Aaron hadn't actually seen the invite (bad email), I emailed him to apologize (once I was given the correct email) because I didn't want him to think I had snubbed him again. I already couldn't get him to believe I hadn't snubbed him the first time, I didn't want to compound it.
That email lead to a series of emails - joking emails involving silly conversations like time travel and such. It was fun to banter with someone via email. I have always thought that it is one thing to be witty in person - that is somewhat easy. You have tone, facial expressions and hand movements to help. To be witty in writing takes an entirely different skill. You have to evoke the emotion, will people to imagine the facial expressions and hand motions... all with your words.
Trust me... Aaron has that skill.
As our emails began to take a more serious tone, I started to realize I wasn't talking to some empty-headed "soft" type of man. I was talking to someone who was thoughtful, gentle, kind and genuine. Even when he was lambasting this gentleman for what he had done to Mike, Aaron showed incredible class. Nothing he said held even so much as a hint of dislike for the man himself, only for his behavior. Everything Aaron said inferred a desire for this man to be brought back around to realizing his need for repentance, to stop manipulating those around him and to make himself right with God.
That impressed me a great deal because I will tell you - my own anger over that whole situation made it incredibly difficult for me to continue handling it with grace and love. I wanted to lash out, I wanted to force people to see how wrong it all was.
The truth is - all but 3 people could see how wrong it all was, my friends knew I was in a difficult place but only Aaron loved me through it instead of advicing me through it. He was there when I needed someone to run to, to escape a situation that had me almost sick to my stomach I was so uncomfortable. Only Aaron didn't judge these people - or me - for all that was going on at the time.
He became the one - the one steady force in the midst of a lot of chaos. The one I could turn to in a human way to make sense of the nightmare. Trust me - I didn't turn from God to Aaron as my sole source of support. It wasn't that. It was - Aaron was the one person, the only person I could turn to and talk to about this - he knew the entire situation, both sides. He knew the impossible position I was in and he offered me a shoulder. A refuge.
In those weeks, too, Aaron and I had fun. Our first date was to the Seattle Art Museum. It was there he began to get an inkling that I might actually be attracted to him, that I didn't really hate him. To hear him tell it makes me giggle. I love how this man can make me giggle.
We talked and talked and talked and talked... Days turned into weeks and from June 18th (when we met) to August 20th (our first date), so much happened and from that first date forward we were inseparable.
Except for Labor Day weekend. That weekend, Aaron had to work at the Evergreen State Fair and I was off to Oregon with my mother. We talked several times, for as long as we could, throughout that weekend. On Sunday, when we found out my grandmother had slipped and fallen in the bathtub, he talked me through all of the fear and anxiety that came with wondering if we were going to get home to her in time, what she was going to be like when we got there and what came next.
He's been my steadying force on earth ever since.
Next week...a proposal and a wedding.
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