Second Chance

I promised something a little less depressing for my next blog, so here it is: This is my Faithwriters entry from a couple of weeks ago, for the subject of "Ohh." I placed 10th out of 39 entries, which was a lot better than I expected to do. It's just a recounting a how Paul and I got together. I left out the part where, on Feb. 8 of that year (after my disastrous attempt to speak to him) I wrote in my journal how I "couldn't stand that Paul Heywood. He was an arrogant, stuck-up jerk and I wouldn't talk to him again if he begged me to" - or something like that. Thank goodness, God doesn't always hold us to our promises!

I also left out the fact that he unexpectedly kissed me after our second date and told me he thought he might be falling in love with me. I was so shocked that I said the first thing that popped into my head, which was, "Well, you'd better figure it out for sure before you go kissing me again!" He did!

This April 7th will be the 20th anniversary of our first date. I think we'll probably head up to Ankeny and hit the Godfathers' there, which was where we spent that first night. We also walked all over campus, talking, afterwards. So maybe we'll do that, too, this year.


Second Chance
　
It was twenty years ago this spring that I met Paul. He and I were both freshmen at the same Midwestern Bible college. I knew who he was but had never bothered to talked to him until well after our Christmas break. There was nothing special about him that set him apart from the other young men at the college and I was too busy having fun with my girlfriends to be interested in any of the guys!

One of my classmates began urging me to seek Paul out. In her opinion, we would be “perfect for each other.” I wasn’t so sure about that. I really was not interested in getting a boyfriend and I sure wasn’t going to chase one down! But, to get this classmate to quit pestering me, I decided I’d “test the waters” and see what, if anything, would come from venturing into simple conversation with this farm kid.

Not much came of it! I remember attempting to speak with Paul as we went to class one day. He had nothing to say to me. I was more than irritated! I had just gone out of my way to initiate a conversation and he couldn’t get away from me fast enough! Mentally, I washed my hands of him and went back to having fun with my girlfriends.

But for the next six weeks, every time I turned around - he was there. He never spoke to me, but I always noticed him. But I wasn’t about to speak to him again! However, he finally spoke to me. He asked to sit by me in chapel. He asked to carry my books. And then one day he hesitantly asked me out on a date. It turned out that what I interpreted as arrogance and indifference on his part was actually shyness.

So, I went out with Paul one Saturday night. And I had a wonderful time with this shy farm kid - who really wasn’t so shy once he opened up. Before the evening was over he romantically asked me if he could have the honor of escorting me to an upcoming banquet. And so I went out with him again. I found I was kind of liking this guy!

The next day I found myself ruminating over my time with Paul, remembering how miffed I had been with him a few months earlier. And now, things were so different! And then it hit me - ohh! I had just tumbled head over heels in love with this boy! Could it really happen that fast? What should I do?

I did the thing any sensible girl would do. I married him!