This post is part of Owlhaven’s Love Stories for October. You can click here to see the last three installments.
The signs for I-75. Heavy traffic that predicted nearness to Atlanta. Two hours of mundane East Georgia scenery. Counting down 58 exits in South Carolina.
These were all things that normally brought bittersweet feelings. My mind would be filled with memories of a weekend with Christian in the Tennessee mountains, and my heart would well up within me. Then I would remember the tests I had coming up that week. How I needed to go to the grocery store. My bathroom was really dirty.
This time, though, the 400 miles went by in a heartbeat, because just in front of me was a ramshackle black Toyota Camry, and I could see Christian’s head bobbing to his music.
We were in separate cars, yes.
But for the first time, I wasn’t leaving Tennessee alone, and there would be no more long goodbyes when Christian left South Carolina.
In the last week, we had both graduated from our respective colleges. My life would change very little, but Christian had packed up all his worldly possessions and loaded them into our cars.
We drove, and drove, and drove.
There were several glorious days when neither of us had started working. The weather wasn’t too hot yet. We went for long runs together. Cooked together. Watched movies. Hung out with friends.
I remember the first time I felt like I had a boyfriend. For real.
It was his first day of work. I had free movie passes I wanted to watch. Christian came by after he got done with work and picked me up at my apartment. We went to dinner and to the movies, then he dropped me off and he went home.
So mundane. So trivial. So normal.
It took most of the summer for it to really hit me that he was here. For good. And we’d never have to be apart for such a long time again. We didn’t see each other every day, and we still don’t now, but we’re looking ahead to marriage, and we’re so excited about the future.
As I write this, I’m on his computer in the living room of his apartment. I just got done eating dinner with friends, and he’s in the kitchen heating up leftovers. When he comes back, we will watch a movie together. And then I will go home, go to bed, and go to work tomorrow. And he’ll still be in the same town as me.
God is really, really good. Great is His faithfulness
5 Comments
October 23, 2008 at 8:01 am
God is good! Amen to that!
I’m continuing my story here:
http://ramblinamblins.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/our-love-story-chapt-6-ansel-adams-theme/
October 23, 2008 at 10:40 am
I can hear the love and the contentment in your writing. I love the ‘normal’ things in a good relationship.
My second-
http://wildwoodmama.blogspot.com/2008/09/our-love-story-part-2.html
October 23, 2008 at 11:15 am
Wonderful!!
Mary
October 23, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Hooray! It’s funny how after nearly two years of marriage and two and half years of living in the same town, the strain of the long distance relationship seems like a distant memory. I can barely even remember what it was like to have to wait for phone calls or sneak a few minutes onto AIM during the day. I need to remember to appreciate more specifically the blessing that it is to see Marshall everyday.
I know God will continue to bless your relationship as you both seek Him together. Also, I would continue to encourage to savor those seemingly “normal” moments. They will be sweet memories in the years to come.
October 23, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Thanks for the sweet comments, everybody.
I had planned on making next Thursday the last installment, but now I’m thinking the story is pretty much over for the time being… we’ll see.