Today is a big day--it's the 10th anniversary of Seth's and my last first date! Yea for us!
Just for fun and a change of pace, I thought I'd tell you about that day and how it all began. You may have heard this already and/or you may not care. Feel free to stop reading now. I will never know and my feelings won't be hurt.
Back in the fall of 2000, I was a senior at Transylvania University and singing in the choir at Southland Chirstian Church in Lexington. Southland started a big push for all of its 5000-8000 members to be a part of a small group. To help support this effort, small groups were formed within the 100+ member choir. I am not sure of how the groups were determined but I was placed in one with Kristie, Seth's sister. Over the next several months, we got to know each other better. She would talk about her brother and how she was praying for him to get back into church. Then one Sunday, early in 2001, he came with her. I happened to be singing a solo that week and Seth later told me that he had told Kristie he wanted to meet me. She was so excited to introduce us briefly as we passed in the hall.
Kristie called me in late February to invite me to come out with her and "some friends." She was going on a date with a guy she knew through work, her brother was coming and another friend, too. I decide to go. She called me that day to tell me "her friend" (of whom, by the way, I have never learned the identity) couldn't come and actually, her parents and daughter were going to join us for dinner. We were meeting at a restaurant called Up the Creek (that in 10 years has been many different restaurants and is now an Applebee's).
Let me stop here and mention I don't eat seafood. I can count on one hand, the times I have tasted fish and not hated it. By this time I had put two and two together and realized I had been set up on a blind date and was, needless to say, a little nervous about meeting at a seafood restaurant. But I went. I walked into the restaurant and (officially) met Seth along with his parents and niece, Maisie who was just 9 at the time.
Seth and I shared a menu while we waited and we talked about what we might order. What he said next was just one of the many things that attracted me to him. He said, "Order whatever you want. I'm buying." Okay, maybe that wasn't it...it's the NEXT thing he said. Being the polite girl I am, I said, "Oh, you don't have to do that" to which he responded, "it would be my honor." Yep, I wouldn't make that up. It might embarrass him to be reminded of it but it still gives me butterflies to remember it.
We were seated and I ordered the blackened chicken...while everyone else ordered fish or shrimp. I don't remember much else about the meal except that most were unimpressed with their meals but I liked my chicken. Maybe this is one of the main reasons Up the Creek didn't last much longer.
After dinner, Kristie (or her date) suggested we go dancing. Dancing would not have been my first choice but I was up for it if meant spending more time with Seth. Knowing Seth now as I do, spending more time with me was probably his motivation, too...not his desire to go dancing. So, we headed to The Blue Moon now known as The Moon Dance Club. We mostly stood around and talked until I finally dragged him onto the dance floor. Soon it was time to go because Kristie's date had a long drive home.
Seth, Kristie and her date had all driven to the restaurant together so we needed to go two places--to Seth's parents (where everyone's vehicles were) and back to Up the Creek to my car. Somehow the decision was made that Seth would drive Kristie and her date back first THEN take me to my car. Geographically, this was not the most efficient or direct plan as we were in Lexington, were going to drive to Nicholasville, come back to Lexington then Seth would go back home to (you guessed it) Nicholasville. Once again, I didn't care because it meant spending more time with Seth.
Upon arriving back at the dorm, I was busting to tell someone about this amazing guy but it was Saturday night and hardly anyone was home...except one person, Kristen. She still remembers how excited I was and how I told her I thought I had met the man I was going to marry. The next day, I called my brother and told him the same thing. I can't explain it but I just knew. It was my last first date.
The shirts we wore that night.
Seth tried to donate his shirt years ago but I wouldn't let him. They stay in a drawer.
Am I weird for keeping these? I think I know the answer to that.
One final thought must be shared in order for you to get a feel for why Seth and I believe we truly were meant to be together and that God brought us together. For one thing, Kristie had not been involved in church for some time before she started attending Southland and joined the choir. Second of all, she was only in the choir a short time after she set us up. There was a small window of time for us to meet and for her to introduce me to Seth. Third, at the time I had no idea what I was going to do when I graduated in May. I had toyed with the idea of moving to Nashville to try to make it as a singer. Thinking about that idea makes me laugh. I don't think I had the drive or the emotional strength to have succeeded or survived that adventure. Seth and I believe we are proof that God's timing is perfect. We are so thankful that God used Kristie to put us together.
If you made it this far, you are either a) a real friend b) a relative c) nosey d) have too much time on your hands. Either way, I doubt you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing but thanks just the same.
I will post in May about our engagement. In case you are marking your calendars (haha), it will be on May 20th.
Your regularly schedule blogging will resume tomorrow.
