Our Love Story, Part 1 - Not A Date

This month starts the beginning of a grand celebration. Twenty-five years ago, a love story began. It will forever be my favorite romance.

On the evening of Friday, December 4^th, 1998, John and I officially met for the first time. Oh, we had seen each other before. He and I had both started attending my parents’ church – Carmel Assembly - earlier that year.  

We were in the same Sunday School class. We were both in the church choir. However, we had never spoken to each other. We had never been introduced. We had no thoughts of knowing - or desires to know - each other.

With the help of family, I had gotten the courage to leave a nine-year- increasingly-volatile marriage in April of that year. My divorce had finalized in October. Timothy had just turned six and Andrew was four years old. With God’s help, my boys and I were learning to breathe again.

John had been divorced from a twelve-year toxic marriage for six and a half years. He had just ended a three-years-of-drama engagement before finding Carmel Assembly. With God’s help, he was learning to breathe again.

The week of December 4^th, I received a phone call. A couple from our Sunday School class had invited John and another girl to a Christmas Concert at Panama City Beach. The girl couldn’t go with them. I didn’t even know this couple very well, but they called me.

After reassuring me that this wasn’t a set-up, it wasn’t a date, I asked for time to call them back. I had two boys to think of. A call to my mom didn’t give me a way out. She was excited for me to go and offered to keep her grandbabies. I called back to confirm the – not a date.

On the evening of the concert, I drove to Chipley, Florida after work. I parked and walked into a state office to meet our party. The couple who invited me were there, and so was a very tall and attractive man I had never officially met. Polite introductions were made as we walked to the evening’s ride.

John – “Oh yeah, you’re the red-head who sits in the back at Sunday school with her baby girl.”

Me – “Not quite. I'm the girl with some red highlights who sits in the back with my niece until the nursery workers get there. I have two boys . . .”

Riding in the back seat with John to the concert was full of continual conversation. We were both recovering from rough pasts. We both expressed a strong reluctance to start any romantic relationships. We shared similar regrets and more assurances that neither of us considered this a date.

We stopped for dinner before the concert. John insisted on buying my meal. He reassured me that it was strictly a friendly gesture for a struggling single mom. We were not on a date.

The concert was so much fun. We heard awesome Christmas music from Avalon, Anointed, Nicole Nordeman and Twila Paris. We all had a really good time.

John and I talked the whole way home. When the couple left us in the parking lot at our vehicles, we kept talking for nearly an hour. We both agreed that we would be good friends – and nothing more – as we went our separate ways with a smile and a wave goodbye.