The path to lemonade, part VII

I have to be honest. When I started to write down the path to lemonade story, I didn't think it would (a) be so long and (b) that it would take me so long. But I've enjoyed the trip down memory lane remembering God's provision. The story does pick up a bit of speed and we'll cover 2-3 years in this post.

To catch up: click on the lemonade path and start at the bottom and read up.

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I loved my time in Oklahoma City and at Tinker. I also loved being the public affairs field. My office was small but we covered an active flying unit which provided so many training and wonderful experiences. While I was there I

- attended a national conference consisting of my PA career field
- went on my first and only deployment
- flew in a KC-135 while it was refueling the Thunderbirds (probably the biggest highlight!)
- flew in a C-5 (the largest aircraft in the world)
- saw a B-2 up close and personal
- flew in an E-3 (many times) and got to sit in seat 5, right behind the pilot in the flight deck
- flew in a C-130
- soared in a glider
- and much, much more...

It was almost as if I wasn't really working. I loved my job. Public affairs was a perfect fit for me and I was good at it. I was busy during the day with work and busy at night with my master's degree. I attended two churches while I was in Oklahoma. The first wasn't as good of a fit for me as the second. This isn't a bad thing, in fact, I'm glad there are different churches to fit a variety of people. Let's face it, people are all different and I think it's great that churches are different. The second church was fantastic! I found a ton of friends, helped lead worship, and was surrounded by truly amazing people. I look back at all that I was doing and I honestly don't know where I found the time to be social and work and study, but I somehow made it work.

Because of the plethora of lieutenants in my career field, there was a back log for my formal public affairs training. When I finally got a slot, about a year after I had been actually doing my PA job, I emailed some friends to see if they were going to be in the D.C./Maryland area. Public affairs school was at a Department of Defense school located at Fort Meade in Maryland.

Guess who was going to be in D.C. the first weekend I was in Maryland?

Craig

I bet you guessed correctly :-) We met up for the first time in over a year and had dinner. He was in D.C. representing Emory for something and the timing worked out. I drove to D.C. and we talked for hours and hours. I guess this little meeting kind of set off a spark between us. Nothing serious, because let's face it, I still lived in Oklahoma and he still lived in Georgia, but it did allow us to reconnect, so to speak. I think we spoke on the phone periodically before this meeting, but I'm fairly certain that the frequency increased thereafter. In fact, Craig made it a point to come visit me while I was in Oklahoma a few times, too.

I have to admit that I was confused by the "relationship." I still dated and I'm sure he did, too. Nothing was defined but we did talk about our "relationship." Craig would allude to me meeting someone and he wanted me to be happy. To be honest, it was just plain weird. There was this guy that would fly out to see me (because there was NO other reason this Georgia boy needed to be in Oklahoma) but there was no defining moment that a relationship started.

I was finishing the last leg of my degree and was in the middle of my comprehensive exams when I got a call from Craig. I had made a quick run to Taco Bell to get dinner and was driving back home when he called. I was all about procrastination and putting off my exams, so I happily took the call. Here's a short recap of the critical parts of the conversation:

C: Are you sitting down?
J: Um, yeah, I'm driving.
C: OK, well you need to be sitting down. How far are you from home? Maybe you shouldn't be driving either.
J: OK, I'm almost home. Seriously, what's he gonna tell me?!?
...
J: I'm sitting.
C: Well, I have a question. Have you ever pictured yourself married to me?
J: What?!? What? What?!?
C: Have you ever pictured yourself married to me?
J: Um... Well... honestly...
C: Yup
J: No
C: (As calm as can be) Well, OK. I've pictured myself married to you.
J: !?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Who responds like that after being told "no!!!"
C: Hello?
J: Well, it's difficult to see myself married to someone that I'm not even dating and that I'm not in love with. There's a lot of things we have not talked about and we're not even boyfriend/girlfriend. What are we, anyway? I mean, there's obviously something there but we've never defined our relationship. You've pictured yourself married to me?
C: Yes, I have. I don't use the term "girlfriend" loosely. I've come to realize that I am the best thing for you.
J: What just happened here?!? Are we in a relationship now? What's going on? Well, this caught me off guard.
C: OK, think about it.

Seriously. I can't make this stuff up.

I remember us talking for a couple of hours, but this is part of the conversation that is most interesting to note. I will also point out that when Craig said he realized he was the best thing for me, he wasn't saying that in a vain way. Off and on for the past couple of years, he insisted he wasn't strong enough in his relationship with the Lord to be in a relationship with a woman. He told me that he honestly didn't think he was ever going to get married. We had many conversations and a few visits and a relationship was never defined. Yes, there was mutual interest, but it was left vague. If I spoke about going on a date with someone else, he would get really excited for me. I took that as a sign that he didn't want to be in a relationship with a long distant girlfriend. The reality was he had finally come to the point in his life that he was right with the Lord and felt he could lead a family, but he sure picked a strange way of letting me know that!

Amazingly, our relationship was still not defined. But he could picture himself married to me. Seriously, I cannot make this stuff up.