As we head to Kentucky to celebrate our engagement with my Kentucky family, it's time to share how Corey and my relationship began... and I'm assuming y'all are ready to see some more engagement pictures!
I was minding my own business one September Sunday evening when I got a text from a long-time friend that I hadn't talked to in a long while. It was Corey, and he asked if he could "ask me a question that would probably leave me with a lot to say." Obviously curious but a little nervous as it felt out-of-the-blue, I agreed to hear out his question. He wanted to know how I had kept my faith my whole life. Something that is hard to share in a short text, I invited him over for gyros two nights later.
Knowing he had always given me butterflies though we had been friends--and good friends for that matter--since 6th grade, I texted my bestie Katlyn making sure I looked 1 part grandma, 1 part cute. I knew Corey was experiencing the aftermath of a hard breakup, and I didn't want to send the wrong message--whatever message that needed to be. This was the beginning of me trying to control our narrative, which... if you know me well, you know God has schooled me on "who's in charge" time and time again, but for now, I felt like I had nailed the look - a flow-y black, taupe, and white floral top with jeans - my go-to casual look. I can't remember if I wore shoes, but probably not.
We spent the evening openly talking about the respective relationships that had taught us lessons, broken us down, and challenged our faiths. That last sentence makes it sound like we had a complaining session, but I assure you, neither of us felt that way. We both very much respect the people that have been special in our lives at one point in time or another, some for years, some for much shorter periods in life. Eventually, I got down to the point of answering his original question. As his prompt assumed, I have had faith in God and his Son ever since I can remember. I grew up going to church with my family, was baptized as an infant, and confirmed my faith at the First Presbyterian Church at 11 years old. Corey had considered me to be an admirable Christian for years (y'all... WOW! Just wow. The ultimate compliment), but the truth was, I am just as broken and in need of Jesus' grace as the next person. I have had times in my life when it's been easy to follow Jesus and times when I've questioned life's purpose, events, and heartache--trying hard to stay disciplined in attending church and studying scripture in order to find the answers. What I told him though was this:
Our earthly lives will not be perfect. We will never be perfect, and are not expected to be perfect, but just as the Christ shows us grace, we must partake in forgiveness and grace with those we hurt and those that have hurt us. It's the only way life can move on in a positive direction.
We spent the next couple of weeks having dinner and talking about faith, love languages, old memories, etc once or twice a week... and then... on my 27th birthday, a few friends went with me to Wilson, Arkansas to celebrate, Corey included. My neighborhood had a gate, and I had walked outside to let our friends Heather and Blair in when Corey turned the corner. Unexpected, my heart skipped... idk... too many beats, and I knew I was in trouble but tried to ignore it. Just thought to myself, "it's just because he looks so cute in that green vest," but I knew that was just the lie I was telling myself. I had not intended to "catch the feels" for Corey as I thought 1. he was emotionally unavailable 2. he wasn't even interested in me and 3. I wasn't ready for a relationship.
Corey, Katlyn, Heather and Blair, and myself were seated in the dimly lit dining room at a round table in the Wilson Cafe. Heather and Blair next to one another, Corey next to Blair, Katlyn next to Corey, and me in between Katlyn and Heather. The waitress came over to ask how to split up the check, looked straight at Corey, motions her pointed finger back and forth toward us and says,
"and the two of y'all together?"
Deer. In. Headlights. Look. OMG. IHaveTheWorstPokerFaceEverHowOnEarthCanSheReadMyMind?!?!
We still laugh about this today, because neither of us have any idea how this voodoo, intuitive waitress knew we'd end up together a short 4 weeks later... 4 weeks before either of us knew we would either.
After that evening, I couldn't think about anything else other than that I wanted to hold his hand. Silly? Maybe. Obsessive? Goodness I hope not! So naturally, the next move was to act weird and stop talking to him..........
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........
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And he called me out on it.
"Why are you acting weird?" -Corey
"Who? Me? I'm not acting weird. I'm just busy." -Sara
"Ok, then let's hang out on Tuesday night." - Corey
"....... *text bubbles*......*more text bubbles*.... ok!" - Sara
And so, it was on a cold, Tuesday mid-November evening that Corey came over to hang out. We ate bbq and agreed to watch Casper. Yes... Casper... the 1990s version of the movie with Christina Ricci. Per usual, he sat on one end of the couch, while I sat on the other. However, he had casually mentioned that I could put my feet on his lap if I wanted to because he knew I typically stretched out on the couch. So, I did, but I still didn't think he was remotely interested in me. That was... well... until about midway through the movie when my feet were resting atop his "belt buckle." Let me just say... if you don't know Corey, he doesn't wear a...belt buckle... at least not a noticeable one, and this one was definitely noticeable. *insert extreme panic in me*
Oh Lawd, what do I do?! I don't know what to do! That can't POSSIBLY be what I think it is...
Well friends.... it indeed was what I thought it was and I froze. Froze until I could remotely think about what to do...
Ok, Sara... get up and go to the bathroom and don't. look. weird.
Y'all... I am so awkward, and I'm proud of it. I came back, plopped my feet back down on the "belt buckle" and watched the rest of the movie. Corey got up, hugged me, and left. He texted me when he got home and by that point, my confidence had been revived from the heart attack it had just experienced, so naturally... I called him out on it...He played if off reallllllll coooooollll, telling me it was "just biology.".... yeah.... OKAY. So I let it lie, like nothing had ever happened.
A week later he called and said, "Ok, so maybe it wasn't just biology. I have wanted to date you since we were 12. I realize we'll be risking our friendship and it may seem a little too soon after our breakups, but I can't stand the thought of letting someone else sweep you away."
I mean...HOW COULD I ARGUE WITH THAT?! Especially when I didn't want to! It finally, after 15 years of friendship, felt like it WAS the right time. So, we went on our first "official official" date on November 17th, 2017. I say official official because we had actually dated for 4 days as freshmen in high school and gone on 2 or 3 dates during college, and I knew one week later that I'd marry Corey if he was willing to deal with all this (me).
On November 18th, 2018, Corey proposed to me on the same couch where we had spent so many hours talking about life, love, and faith. I'll leave y'all to look at our engagement photos with one last thought: thank God for Casper and biology.
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