I met Devin

on Labor Day weekend in Ludington, Michigan. My family was up at our lakehouse and his family was vacationing nearby. Looking back, I'm so glad it's where we met, it makes the story that much sweeter. We had been set up by a mutual acquaintance, and by acquaintance, I mean his cousin / best friend and someone I had only met once, and a few weeks prior to our first date we had emailed back and forth a handful of times getting to know the basics. Where'd you grow up? College? What do you do for a living? Where do you live and go to church? How do you spend your free time? And of course there was facebook stalking. Lots and lots of facebook stalking.

He was the nephew of my good friends and mentors and from their perspective, passed the test for being a guy of solid character and someone worth getting to know. So I did. For the first time in awhile I agreed to get to know someone and pursue a relationship. Other options had presented themselves over the last year or two, but each time I had the gut feeling it would be over before it began, thus I declined the beginning. This time was different. Something inside me said that this guy was worth my time.

Of course the "something inside of me" was the Spirit that has continued to coach me further on in each step of this relationship. From the second we exchanged our first words face to face, that same something told me to keep going. Even now, it puts a smile on my face to think of my first interaction with Devin. I was looking at him, his face turned from me as he said something about the coffee shop we were standing in, and I was watching his mouth move and feeling that already I was drawn to him, just by how he spoke. I thought it a bit quirky that he was wearing a sweater in 80 degree humidity, but even quirkiness was endearing on him. (Later, he told me he didn't like the t-shirt he was wearing, hence being hot and uncomfortable over letting me see him in something he didn't like.)

Coffee turned into a walk on the pier, which turned into leaning against a lighthouse talking for an hour, which turned into martinis and sushi, which turned into an excellent first date. Afterwards, it was just that, a great first date. But a date that left me smiling and wondering about this Devin guy and praying that whatever happened, God would lead us similarly and we would be 'on the same page'.

That prayer was answered time and time again.

Little did we know, after a quick side hug goodbye and comments about "doing it again sometime", that after this date on a sunny Friday afternoon in Michigan, we would spend every weekend together for the next 11 weeks until he proposed on a chilly Wednesday eve.

to be continued...

11 comments:

leah said...

you are a facebook stalker.
i am a blog stalker.
i was waiting for this post.

you know about i feel about you and devin! thrilled and love to hear & see, like you said, how DIFFERENT & how RIGHT this has been from the very beginning!

Praise God...delighted for you. simply delighted.

Betsy said...

So well written and great thoughts that it makes me want the "continued" part...and it's like you're marrying a writer or something??

Daveana said...

Gah!!! :) I had a funny feeling there was going to be a 'to be continued' at the end of this post! LOVE!

smw said...

this is so fun to read. keep it comin'.

sarah.flyingkites said...

This is beautifully written...I LOVE IT!

The sweater part REALLY cracked me up.

Christen Leigh said...

How fun! Keep em comin' quick! :) Loved finally catching up yesterday. :)

Tami said...

girl, you're killin' me! As I'm reading it, my eyes kept jumping ahead and thinking, "This looks to short! She's not going to finish it". Yep, I'm that weird, and yep, I'm seriously that excited to read the rest!

emilykate said...

Ha, you girls are so sweet that you care about reading this! I promise to keep writing, for my fans. :)

Sara Huber said...

I love it that even though you both live in Indiana, you met in Michigan...it's the best! I recall getting to the lakehouse late that evening and thinking, "wow, Em's in a really good mood, though she seems to be spacing out every now and then." It wasn't until the next day when you told me about Devin that it all made sense. :)

Daish said...

I can't wait to hear more. Em, I'm anxious to talk!

Ashley Neuen said...

How exciting! Can't wait for the continued part!