The path to lemonade, part XIV

Hahaha...did anyone catch that I numbered this post wrong? I put XIX and it's only XIV.

We are at part 14 of this whole path to lemonade. I have to be honest that I had no idea it would be this lengthy. I've often thought about how I got to where I am today, and I've pieced together much of my past path before, but I've never reflected this much on it. It has been a very rewarding path for me to walk down again. If you've stuck it out this long, I hope it's been a tad rewarding to you, too. Don't worry, this isn't the last part of the path, but this is probably one of my favorite parts :-)

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I spent Christmas with my family and then flew to Georgia to visit Craig and to spend New Year's with his family. As luck would have it, my luggage didn't make the flight I was on, so I was delayed at the airport. I wanted to leave the airport and have them deliver my luggage, but Craig insisted we stay and wait for my bag to catch up.If I recall correctly, I was feeling slightly under the weather and just wanted to crawl in a bed. But wait we did and while we were killing time, we ate dinner. Eventually, my bag caught up.Craig also insisted we drive to the cabin. I just wanted to stay local, but he wanted to head further north. There was a big weekend planned with his family's New Year's party and he really wanted to visit the cabin. If we didn't go Friday, then we probably wouldn't make it.

We finally arrived at the cabin and I'm pretty sure I immediately crawled in my bed (and just so you know, he stayed in another room. I got the master though :-) I crashed hard and slept late the next morning. So late that Craig called my cell phone to wake me up. I crawled out of bed with the prospect of brewing some coffee and when I opened my door, a wave of heat hit me in the face. There were hundreds of tea lights from my bedroom, down the stairs, and stopping at Craig. A trail of red rose petals lined the path.

I froze. Dead in my tracks. I was just taking it all in. I was surprised and pretty sure of what was coming next.. Craig beckoned me to continue walking down the stairs, so I did.

He said a bunch of really sweet things to me that I don't remember and then pulled out a ring. He continued to say a bunch of sweet things that I also don't remember because I was staring at my ring.  hehe.

Of course, I said yes.

Before he placed the ring on my finger, he told me that it was designed with a purpose. In the center, was a large princess cut diamond, and on either side were two smaller trillion cut diamonds. The center diamond represents Jesus. The two trillion diamonds on either side represent Craig and me - equal in side and equal in importance. We are connected by Jesus, but pale in comparison to Jesus' beauty and size. In addition, we cannot look at each other unless we look through Jesus. We need to view each other the way Jesus views us. But the center stone is what your eye is drawn to, not the side stones.

Craig really put a lot of thought into my engagement ring and he also said it's the only one I get. No upgrading at a milestone anniversary. He didn't mean this in a bad way, just that he figured the first ring is really the one that means the most to a woman, so he wanted the first one to be perfect. Frankly, I would have been thrilled with something much less, and he knew that. You marry the person, not the ring. But I do love my ring and I'm very happy that it will never get replaced with something bigger and better.

Our entire relationship had been long-distant - even when he moved to Texas, he was still more than an hour away. It was difficult, but I know the Lord had his hand in it the entire time. We connected on a level I'm not sure we would have if we'd been able to date like a normal couple. We talked on the phone. A lot. We saw each other when we could, but our relationship was built on lots and lots of talking. I knew Craig inside and out and he knew me. There's just something about talking on a phone that makes it easier to reveal things about yourself. It was tiring and hard work (let's face it, all relationships are!), but it was also beautiful.

And it still is.