Hindsight and How it all started

I was thinking in the shower this morning about an email I got once (I do some of my best thinking in the shower) that explained that while you might be ready to meet your significant other, that God might still be working on getting he/she ready, so to be paitent.  I never forgot that email.  And I have to admit that it was a comforting thought for a lot of years.  I said from a pretty early age, sometime during high school, that I was going to marry a farmer (Kacie can verify!).  I knew exactly what I wanted, and although my parents tried to dissuade me at times, saying I had no idea what work I would be getting myself into, nothing could convince me otherwise.  It never occured to me to question what God had in mind for me, because I just knew that I was waiting on a farmer.  I didn't date in high school, and I didn't date much in college either.  I never saw the point.  I considered it a waste of time.


I also have to admit that it wasn't always easy, this waiting.  Years went by and I saw all my high school friends get married, and then my college friends too.  There were many times when I felt like I was the only one left who hadn't met "the one" and it was heartbreaking.  Even though I was thrilled and excited for my friends who were taking these important and sacred steps forward, I often wondered when it would be my turn.  Even my own younger sister was getting married before me.  And again, as happy and excited as I was for her, I wondered what was wrong with me that prevented the things I dreamed of from happening.  I even wondered if Salem wasn't the place for me, and thought about moving.  I applied for jobs in the Lafayette area, not because of all the farmers there, but because I loved the area when I was at Purdue, and thought that if I was going to be away from my family that would be next best place.

Then one day in late April, in 2006, I went to my parents house for dinner, as I often did, using the excuse that Mom was cooking anyway and I didn't want to cook for just one.  Mom began telling me that my Grandma was playing matchmaker for me (again!?).  Grandma had been trying to set me up with someone unsuccessfully for YEARS!!  And when I say years, I'm not exaggerating.  Mom told me that Grammy and her friend Sue got lost going to or from somewhere and had decided in the course of their little adventure that they would fix me up with Sue's son.  I was less than thrilled.  I smelled disaster.  But the more I learned about this guy, the more interested I became.  From what Grammy said, he just might be what I always said I wanted.  This was where I was surprised.  I could almost see God handing me everything I'd always wanted, in a completely different form than I expected.  I guess if there wasn't some kind of plot twist, it wouldn't be interesting.


A couple of weeks later, I got an email from this guy named Nick.  It took us a month to have our first date (because of the festivities leading up to his best friend's wedding), and another month to have our second.  We were engaged on Groundhogs Day in 2008.  And as they say, the rest is history.  Nick is definitely the man I always wanted complete with a farm.  It's pretty unusual in his family to have a girl helping with the cows but I think they've all gotten used to my pink show stick and sorting pole, and the cows having names.


I share this because I thought of it this morning, and it made me smile.  
Looking back, I can see how our story unfolded and how everything that happened leading up to where I am today was all part of God's plan.  For all those years while I was waiting, Nick was just getting ready to meet me.  That's just how we are.  I make decisions quickly and resolutely.  I don't often have to think things through because I know what I want to do.  Nick is the complete opposite.  He takes his time making decisions and thinks things through very thoroughly.  We balance each other out in nearly every way, and I guess that's just another example of whether or not we know or agree with God's plan, it's probably the best.