A Boy and a Girl

This is the story of how a boy met a girl and eventually got married - of course, the boy is my husband and the girl is me. But what you may not know is that my husband was really just a boy of 9, and I was a girl of only 6, the first time we laid eyes on each other. My family lived in a small town called Red Bluff, CA, and when I was 6 years old, there was a lot of turbulence going on inside my home. My mom and dad had separated. I remember one day, hearing a knock on the door. I opened the door and it was my dad. He spoke to my mom, sister and me for a short time and left. And that was when I realized something was very wrong - because dads don't knock on the doors of their own houses!

My mom had a good friend named Rena. She convinced my mom to take a little vacation in Oregon with her and her two kids. At this time, my dad had moved back home, but my parents' relationship continued to be unstable and their future was very uncertain. Rena had an older sister there - a Godly, wise woman, and Rena said she would be able to give my mom some desperately needed counsel and advice. So my mom, sister and I, along with Rena and her two children, drove to Roseburg, OR. I remember meeting a bunch of kids who lived there. They were really nice. One of the kids was a girl of about 13, and she walked all of us younger kids to a grocery store, where we each picked out our own bags full of penny candy! Then she told us, that in order to protect our candy stash, we should hide them inside the crawl space of the house, which we did. I'm not sure who we were protecting our candy FROM, since we all had our own bags of it, and they were all stashed in the same crawl space!

We stayed for a weekend, and went home. I really don't remember much besides what I already shared - after all, I was only 6. But a young boy of 9 remembered me. He developed his first crush that weekend, and never forgot about it. He remembered being really embarrassed because I could read and he couldn't. :) And he didn't know what to do with a girl like me except to tease. So he wrapped a thin metal wire around my ankle and the other end to a tree and told me to run, which I did, and promptly fell on my face!

My mom had visited with Rena's sister, and received the following counsel that she still remembers to this day: When you don't know what to do or where to go, the best thing to do is just STAY - stay where you are, stay on your knees, and pray. So that's what my mom did. A short time later, my dad met Jesus and gave his life to Him, and our lives took a completely different course because of this decision. My mom and dad's marriage was completely restored, and we all started attending church together. Eventually, my dad became involved in men's ministry, music ministry, and teaching Sunday School. And my mom became the church secretary.

Fast forward to my 18th year. I decided to attend a small Christian college, George Fox - really my reason for choosing this college was because...well, that happened to be where my boyfriend was going. My first weekend there, a guy saw me and became interested. He told his friends he was planning to meet me on the floor of my dorm during the next "Open Floor" (a few hours a week, guys could come onto the floor of the girls' dorm and visit, as long as all doors remained wide open :) ). So, during one of the first "open floors" of the school year, I saw this tall, dark-haired young man strolling the halls, visiting with some of the older girls he already knew. He just happened to stroll down towards my room :), and we bumped into each other. He introduced himself and we commenced some small talk. He asked me where I was from, and I told him "Red Bluff, California." He said, "Oh wow, I had some cousins and aunt and uncle who lived in Red Bluff....but they moved to Southern California about 10 or so years ago." I didn't think anything of it. I had a picture album sitting on my desk, with photos of my family and youth group friends in Red Bluff, as well, as some old childhood friends. I proudly showed him pictures of my younger sisters and brother. And I turned to a page with a picture of some old friends from out of town that had come back to Red Bluff my senior year of high school to visit us. He looked at that picture and his jaw dropped open. He said, "That's a picture of Terry and Cindy - MY cousins!"

You can imagine the surprise. His cousins were my childhood friends who used to live in Red Bluff, the ones we drove up to Oregon with when I was 6 - to HIS house! He said, "You're that girl who came to visit with my cousins. I never forgot you and often wondered what had become of you. You were the first girl I ever had a crush on." Thus, a friendship began. In fact, he quickly became my best friend in the world. Wes was convinced that our meeting as children was far from coincidence. He started pursuing me in earnest. It took him over 2 years to win my heart. He NEVER gave up, and never even had any other dating relationships during that time. And when I finally fell in love, believe me, I fell hard.

We married at the end of my Junior year. Wes's cousins, and my childhood friends, Terry and Cindy Brown, were in the wedding party. I love our story. During hard times, and we've had some REALLY hard times, just knowing and remembering how we met - and how he loved me ever since he first saw me as a little girl wearing these glasses that were bigger than my entire face - this knowledge and rememberance has sustained me in my love, devotion and commitment to him throughout our 20 year marriage.

Thank you God for your grace - in bringing me a wonderful husband who loves me so dearly. You are so Good to me!!