Greetings friends and family! Clearly, the move to Los Angeles has interfered with my
keeping up with this. I would like
to be able to blame it on a fabulous job keeping me busy, or perhaps countless
trips and adventures taken on the west coast. Alas, I cannot.
I can, however, tell you about what (or who, rather) has been taking up
all of my time.
I will start by saying this. When I moved here back in August, my intention was to simply
give it a go for a few months, see some sights, test the waters, and if no job
had surfaced by the fall, move back to New York just in time to sign a new
lease. I kept telling people that
I just wanted to “get it out of my system before I settle down back on the east
coast. “ My, my how things have
changed in such a short period of time.
And the funny thing is that I did not see the game changer coming at
all…
I arrived here on a Saturday, and on the very next day
decided to attend church at a congregation recommended to me by friends in New
York. Arriving ten minutes late as
usual, I sat on the very back row, scared to death and with a huge hole in my
heart for friends and family back east.
Not too long into the service, I noticed a friend from my church in New
York, sitting in the audience with her family. She grew up at this church, and was visiting for the
summer. She saw me as she was
heading to the nursery with her newborn, gave me a hug and told me to hang
around after church so we could catch up and she could introduce me to “some
people.” So I did.
You could almost see the light bulb go off in this girl’s
head when I told her I was single and had moved there to try things out for a
while. Enter Daniel. I remember seeing him for the first
time. He was running the
sound/lights during the service, turned around at one point, and we made eye
contact. I have never told him
this, but I definitely noticed him then.
Anyway, she has known him since he was born, and their families are
extremely close. She pulled him
over to me, made the introduction, and then disappeared to breast feed, I
think. We talked for quite a
while, and he asked for my number before leaving. Honestly, at that point, I was just glad to have met someone
who was also temporarily unemployed, and that I could befriend during the week
when everyone else was at work.
Didn’t think much else of it.
That afternoon while at the beach with my roommate, I sent
the standard “it was nice to meet you” text. The next day, he asked me to go to a concert with him and
his friends, which I did. Definitely
not impressed with the band, but I thought his friends were great, and that he
was sweet for taking pity on me in my state of loneliness. The following day, he asked me to
lunch, which I had to decline due to other plans. For the next week, he was in Austin, helping a friend drive
and move there. There were quite a
few texts exchanged, and arrangements were made to get together in the coming
days. Still in the friend zone, I
found myself getting a little excited about hanging out with him when he got
back…which was literally the very day after his plane landed.
After a few “field trips” (that’s what I used to call dates
in high school), I could tell that he was definitely interested and that I was,
in fact, interested too. Since
that time, our relationship has moved at the speed of light, since we basically
spend every single day together.
Although I am trying to be realistic and responsible with this whole
thing, I already feel like God has answered a prayer I have been praying my
entire life. When I am with him, I
feel complete (as cheesy as that sounds…I never believed people when they said
that before, but now I get it.) He
is kind, thoughtful, ambitious, adventurous, determined, funny, mature, and
intelligent. He loves the
Lord. He makes me laugh out loud,
want to be a better person, and treats me like a queen.
After my 30th birthday in July, I finally felt
like I had reached a state of contentment with life and who I had turned out to
be. I had peace with past
relationships being over. I wasn’t
looking for another one. As a
matter of fact, I gave up the idea entirely. The last week in New York was amazing, and there were
definitely things that happened that gave me things to think about regarding
relationships and moving back. I
will always cherish those last few days and what happened during that time, but
I also am glad I went forward with the move. I really feel like I have found my perfect match. Although I do intend to be prayerful
and seek God’s direction with this decision, I know He has led me to this place
and this point. And I am so very
grateful that He did.
