We're getting married!

We were both members of a group site on Facebook. Responding on someone else's post on that site, Mike took notice of me and Facebook stalked me! ;) Looking through some of my photos, he recognized a name on one of them and asked me if I had a brother with that name, because he had gone to school with that person. Realizing that the name was that of my ex-husband was a bit awkward at first, to say the least! I questioned Mike about his dad's name, realizing that Mike was from the same family of the people that my ex-husband and I had done business with for years, years ago. All awkwardness aside, we didn't let that stop us from getting to know each other better.

We talked through Facebook for a couple weeks and I finally asked Mike, "So are you going to ask me out or what?" We arranged to go out on Friday, January 27. We were both fighting colds, and I was also trying to arrange a day trip for that same Friday with my son that would end up making it difficult to be back in time for the date. Mike was very excited. He wanted to go all out, go to a really nice restaurant, flowers, etc. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed and asked if we could tone it down a little, more casual and less pressure. We agreed to a local fish fry. Mike wanted to pick me up at my house, but I asked if we could just meet at the restaurant. Mike was disappointed, but agreed. Monday before the date I sent Mike a "Good Morning, have a great day" message. A few hours later Mike sent a picture of an apparently dead white opossum, and said, "See what happens when you tell me to have a good day, you must be my lucky charm. Look what I found on the road!" I didn’t understand, so he explained that pure white possums are very rare, and there is a certain market (in taxidermy) for them. Having found a freshly deceased one in such good condition was "like finding $50 laying on the road". (Yes, you guessed, that roadkill paid for our date!) The day of the date, I barely got back from the road-trip in time to get ready, but I managed to get to the restaurant mostly on time. Mike was already waiting for me. We got seated at a table and then talked for... Hours? We were oblivious to most everything around us, including the big screen TV that was on a mere 3 feet away from us, the metal folding chairs we were sitting on, or that a friend of Mike’s was sitting at the bar watching us. Mike walked me to my car. He asked if he could at least have a kiss, and I gave him a quick peck on the cheek. He was thinking, and maybe even said, “That’s all I get?” After all that, Mike wasn’t sure how well things went and wasn’t sure if there would be a second date. There was!

By Valentine’s Day, things were much more certain. Technically this wasn't our second date, but the other "dates" were just home-cooked dinners, talking, and hanging out watching movies and such. Valentine's day started out with Mike bringing me roses and a heart-shaped balloon that said I Love You, and an entire German Chocolate Torte from Hankerson's Bakery. For dinner, we both wanted to go someplace neither of us had been to and somehow ended up at Fox & Hounds. Not knowing what we were in for, we were surprised when we were asked if we had any issue with stairs, and were even more surprised when we were seated in the nearly vacant upstairs dining room. There was only one other table occupied, and that pair of people left within minutes of us coming in, and without ordering. When we saw the menu, we were almost sure we would end up having to wash dishes before they would let us leave! But we managed, and were very amazed that we had essentially the whole upstairs to ourselves with one dedicated server who even took what is now one of our favorite pictures of us together. It was a really exceptional date!

We were invited to Mike's parent's house for Christmas Dinner on 12/23. When we arrived at their house, no one was home yet from church, so we waited in the car for them. While we waited, it suddenly came to my mind that the date was significant in a way. It was the anniversary of my first wedding, 21 years ago. Mike didn't say much when I told him that, and later he described how he did a silent face-palm at that revelation. Anyways, the evening progressed past dinner, and the entire family, all 30-something of us, crammed into the living room to open gifts. Mike's mother came into the room and said something about a tradition of the newest member of the family getting to open the first gift. She gave me a fairly large box to open. While I was opening the gift, I noticed that Mike's brother John, was filming me, and I thought it was odd. Inside the box was another box. And another box. And another.... There were also several "distraction" gifts in with the packing materials, such as a couple of cans of baked beans, and quite a few bags of popcorn. Somewhere in the process of opening the endless nested boxes, Mike and one of his nephews ended up in a wrestling/tickling match on the floor in front of me. Finally, I got to the last box, which was pretty small and obviously a jewelry box. Inside was the ring. And Mike was already on his knees in front of me. There is no doubt in my mind that God had His hand in redeeming the date for me. I will never forget the date of the engagement.