This past Monday was exactly two years. Two years from the day I met the man I would eventually marry. And I had No. Idea. At all.
On Friday, September 23, I left a birthday party and went to meet the girls for a girl's night supper. Hillery and her new beaux, who is also now her husband, came to join us. I know I said "girl's" dinner, but I cannot tell you how happy I am this particular boyfriend came along that night. As we were wrapping up, Stoney said he had a friend that was right down the road at a local hangout and asked if I was interested. At that point, any interest in a man was totally off my radar, meaning I had none. Zip. Nada. He told me a little bit about him, and then showed me this:
This was the first I ever saw of Jason. (On our vacation this past year, we went fishing on this exact boat. So cool!) Reluctantly, I agreed to go with them. When we walked in, Stoney walked over to talk to him, and Hillery and I followed. I finally had to nudge them and say "Eh em!!" to introduce me. It was the usual greetings of "Hi's", "How are you's?" and "Nice to meet you's".
I am going to be completely honest here, so please don't judge: I was at a pretty low point in my life during this time frame. I didn't care what people thought and I didn't care what I said. I didn't necessarily think love and relationships were crap, but I had some definite hostility towards both. I was mad for so many reasons, but I also felt like a failure....just lots of still new emotions at that point that I didn't really know how to handle. And I can assure you, I acted nothing like a lady. No, not even close. And I may or may not have had a little too much to drink. Seriously, y'all. I was a mess. My "give a you-know-what" was busted, empty, stomped on and burned.
I invited Jason to a get-together the next Saturday at my house for the LSU/West Virginia game. Thankfully, after he probably thought "Wow, this chick is nuts!" he showed up the next day. Really, I have no idea why, but he did.
After that, it was a good 3 weeks before I heard from him again. I was at my sister's house one night when my phone rang and I almost took out the door trying to get outside fast enough so I could talk. He told me that he'd tried to call, but I never answered. And I was 100% sure I had not missed a call from him. Then he told me he had tried calling a friend of his a couple of times, and he never got the call either. Which is the only reason he tried me again. Thank you, Lord, for bad cell phone signals during those 3 weeks!! (When I came in, she asked who I was talking to and said it must have been somebody special because I had a dopey smile on my face.)
He would periodically text here and there asking if I wanted to do something. I was either in BR at an LSU game or doing something with Dad for campaign stuff (this was right in the middle of running for state rep). Plus, I was still weary about an actual "date". One, because I hadn't been on a real date since I was in high school, and two, because I felt I had that "divorce" stigma that followed me everywhere and I would just give people a reason to talk. Then he invited me to his house one Sunday afternoon to cook steaks and watch the Saints game. And I really wanted to go. So Operation "I need a wing-woman" was in full swing! Hillery and I had planned on going to a movie that afternoon, and I told her that Stoney needed to get with Jason about them coming over for steaks, too. You know, to avoid that whole awkward silence thing when you've just met someone. They came, we ate, we watched the game, and we left. And as we were leaving, we planned to all go to dinner the next Tuesday night. Dad had a campaign fundraiser that night, and Jason said he was going to pick me up afterwards. WHAT?! A man is actually interested in this mess that I am AND is going to pick me up? And when he did, he said "you look nice" AND he opened the door for me. And then I tried not to boo-hoo right there. Because thank you for reminding me what that feels like.
When he brought me home, we watched TV for a little while and stumbled upon Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation. I was hooked for good once I knew he could quote just as much of the movie as I could. Then that spawned a Christmas conversation and his points went up when he said he loved Christmas time and listening to Christmas music.
The rest is history folks. After that night, we were pretty much inseparable. I absolutely loved being in his presence. He was funny and kind and polite and complimentary (Hello! What woman doesn't like a good compliment?!). He made it very clear that God and his Christian faith were important to him. We had so many things in common, we had the best time together, and we thought the same about most everything. Even finishing each others sentences and thoughts and "Oh my gosh I was JUST about to say that!"
I will honestly say I felt the enemy was very prevalent in my life pre-Jason. I felt like the harder I tried to be a better Christian, the more I was attacked, the more my relationships were destroyed, and the more I sank. Now I know that's how it happens; the enemy wants nothing more than to destroy you between point A and point B. And then I felt like God said "BACK UP OFF MY CHILD" and then poof! Enter Jason.
I am thankful every morning, every night and all the time in between for God's blessings surrounding us. Once I stopped worrying about what I wanted, and just allowed God to do His thing, life totally transformed. I can remember the exact morning I was driving to work, and I felt this overwhelming sense of peace and strength. (When you're in your own hell, a 30 minute drive to and from work can be pretty brutal.) From that point forward, I was different. I had a clearer view of who I wanted to be and what I needed in my life. In addition to what I didn't need in my life.
If you would have told me on that night 2 years ago: "Sarah, you're going to marry this man. He is going to teach you so much about yourself, and he will encourage you to be a better Christian and show you a kind of love that you thought only existed in movies. " I would have said WHATEVER. I had no idea we would end up here:
1 comment:
Sarah, even at your lowest point, you are still an amazing person. From just the few words we exchanged, I know, without a doubt, that Jason absolutely adores you. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am for you two. You deserve all the happiness in the world. I have had my fair share of low points, and can truly say I understand. I've found something very similar, and I think everyone deserves that kind of happiness. :)
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