Our Love Story—The Perfect Sunday

April 1st, 2001. 10 years ago, my whole world as I knew it—changed drastically.

I came back to campus early from Spring Break. I don’t remember why, but I remember that I was anxious to be back on campus, as there didn’t seem to be much of a reason to be home in St. Helens. It was amazing how quickly my high school friendships just seemed to dissipate. Honestly, I don’t remember anything about my Spring Break at home, though I think I may have been working at my former place of employment—a local coffee shop.

But, what I do remember is a burning desire to get back to campus as quickly as possible, even though I knew that most people were still away on break, and everything, even the cafeteria, would remain closed until classes started on Monday. Perhaps I naively thought it would be a good chance for me to nail down some of my studies before campus life returned in full swing? Perhaps I just needed some time alone, to clear my head and wrap my mind around all that had happened in my whirlwind first year of college?

Or maybe, just maybe, God was prompting me to return to campus for an even more important reason? And thus began some of the best weeks of my life!

I woke up Sunday morning and got ready for church. The halls were mostly quite, unlike the typical Sunday morning where you could hear the hustle and bustle of dozens of girls getting themselves ready up and down the hall. I’m sure I was excitedly thinking about seeing Rob and J, both guys who had caught my attention. They had just gotten back from a Spring Break missions trip to Mexico, so I knew they’d both be at church. 

Oh yeah, maybe that had something to do with my desire to return to campus early?

Anyway, I saw them both at church that day, though our group of friends was much smaller than normal. Bill and Krista, some married friends of ours, invited those of us who were around to have lunch at their on-campus apartment since the cafeteria was still closed. I can guarantee they didn’t have to twist my arm to get me to attend with the two objects of my affection sure to be in attendance as well!

We hung out there for much of the afternoon, and then I went back to my dorm room for a short period of time. I got ready to go back to church that evening which is not something I normally did since our fellowships met on Sunday nights. But, since our fellowships weren’t meeting because of Spring Break, we all decided to attend that evening’s service and the dinner that followed. I don’t remember a whole lot about that service, or even the dinner, but I remember what happened next as clearly as if it happened just yesterday.

Rob, J and I helped stack tables and chairs after the meal we shared together at church, and then we all leisurely walked toward our cars together. Suddenly, Rob asked J and me if we wanted to go walk through downtown Salem for awhile, since we all had a rare evening where deadlines, papers and exams weren’t looming over our heads!

I don’t remember if we rode together or separately, but on the way there I remember thinking to myself—I wonder if one of these guys might actually be interested in me? They were really good friends, accountability partners even, so surely each would know if the other one had an interest in me, right? And, being the good Christian guys that they are, one of them is probably giving the other one an opportunity to spend time with me and get to know me in a non-threatening, inconspicuous manner.

The only problem was that I had no idea which guy was doing the other guy a favor. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the slight possibility that one of these guys might actually be interested in me! We spent some time walking around beautiful down town Salem in the cold crisp, beautiful Spring weather and we talked and talked and talked, about who-knows-what and everything under the sun, I’m sure. Eventually it started to get cold and it was fairly late. The evening felt like it was winding down, though I certainly didn’t want to end—ever! Much to my surprise, Rob asked if we might like to go get some coffee at a little coffee shop downtown, so we all trekked over to the little hole-in-the-wall café.

And there we sat, for hours! If I recall correctly, much of our conversations that night revolved around relationships. We waded through the deep waters of where we wanted to go with our lives, what we wanted to do and most importantly, what kind of person we each hoped we’d get to walk through life with.

Both guys asked many questions of me and said several things that night that made me think each of them might be interested in getting to know me better. Then again, they both said a few things that made me snap back to reality and realize that they probably weren’t interested too. I kind of felt like I was speed dating that night, but it was just me and these two guys who had become good friends of mine. Honestly, it was kind of bizarre, but a lot of fun! Besides, I was pretty sure I was just reading into the different things that each of them was saying. Or was I? Of course I was, why would either of these two incredibly godly men take an interest in me?  

Finally, midnight rolled around. Midnight folks. I miss those college days! The coffee shop closed-up and droopy eyed we all headed home.

By this time, my roommate, Tara was back and she and I spent some time talking that night, like college roomies do. I recapped the day’s events for her and she encouraged me to get to know J better. The reality is he was my age and therefore a little more “in my league” if you will. My head was spinning as I went to bed that night. The truth was—I liked them both. Over the past several months they had both become good friends and men I admired. Could it be that one of them was actually beginning to take an interest in me as well? I went to bed giddy that night, praying diligently for God’s direction. I couldn't wait to get to sleep, so I could wake up the next day and strategically figure out a way run into either (or both!) of them on campus. That friends, was a night to remember!

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