As promised in my last post, here is the beginning of the story of why I am now living in North Carolina. This is not your typical love story by any stretch of the imagination. We didn’t meet years ago. We haven’t been friends for a while and just now realized we had feelings. He didn’t come to my house and pick me up for dates in the early months of dating. We weren’t even in the same country when we got introduced, but that’s getting ahead of myself. To really do this story justice, we have to go back almost two years ago. I was busy pursuing my own life and had broken up with my ex, but hadn’t really gotten over the relationship or given myself space to have closure. It was in this season of life that my sister, Megan, and my brother in law, Jared, tried to set me up with one of Jared’s friends from the army post he was stationed at. I didn’t even give this poor guy a shot. I didn’t look at any photos of him and immediately said, “No thanks! I am good for now and I like being single.” Well, a year later (March of 2020), they tried again. It was at this time that I found out they had asked him also a year prior and he also shut it down real quick. When Megan came to me again about this guy, I still wasn’t super into it and both Jared and this guy where serving overseas on a deployment. I was living in Montana and was so very happy with my life there. I had finally gotten closure with my past relationship and was feeling so alive and free and great about my future. Megan and Jared began to push both Jaymes (that’s his name J) and me to at least write to each other. Covid had just shut down the nation and the boys weren’t really doing anything in the Middle East. Both Jaymes and I had time to kill, so we agreed to friend each other on Facebook. We didn’t write or make any other moves. A few days after we friended each other, Megan asked me if he had written. I said no and she looked at me and said “It’s the 21st century! You write HIM!” She is a little pushy sometimes. But I agreed and wrote this to him… “Hey!! Just wanted to introduce myself since who knows what my sister and brother in law have been telling you. I’m currently living in Montana and working at a guest ranch! It’s amazing out here! I love to travel, I love children, I love new places and new people, and I love good food! Anyway, just wanted to say hello! I hope training or whatever you’re doing today goes well! I know you all would much rather be home so I’m praying answers for a return date come soon!” Ok, quick disclaimer before you remark on all of my !!!!!! … I always end sentences with ! when I am typing on my phone. I am an overly enthusiastic person who loves to talk loud and has lots of emotions. Now… back to the story. I wrote and sent this message with very little hope he would respond quickly or with much to say in his response. But, much to my surprise (and this would be the first of many surprises over the next year) he wrote me back less than an hour later. And, not only that, with a longer message than mine and with questions for me! I was shocked. I let my sister know he had written and that began a series of messages that would be sent back and forth over the next four months. Yes, four months. Like I said, not your typical love story. He was in the Middle East for the first three months of our talking and then one month in North Carolina before we ever saw each other in person. Covid had all but shut down the ranch I was working at and I had loads of time on my hands. Jaymes was just waiting around for orders to finally come home, so he had plenty of time. Even though we had all this free time, our days where nine hours different from each other. My day was his night and visa versa. For this reason, the first month or so was just messages. No phone calls. No Facetime. But I didn’t mind. Not having any sort of physical distraction allowed us to open up quickly with each other and dive in deep to conversations that in person may have been a bit more difficult to navigate. We would send novels to each other and stayed up way to late to be able to have real time conversations over messenger. Oh, have I mentioned that for the first several weeks of us chatting, I had only one photo of him. This one… That’s it. That’s all I had to go off of. He didn’t have anything on his Instagram account and his Facebook had only very old photos of him. So that photo was the only recent photo I had of what this man looked like. Of course, I had a million photos on both Instagram and Facebook so he had many to look through of me.
I will never forget our first phone call. We would always call either late at night or super early morning for me, so I was usually really tired sounding and kind of out of it for the first few minutes of the conversation. Our first phone call was some time in the middle of the night for me. I remember hearing his voice for the first time and my heart skipped a beat. I loved it. I loved everything about it. He sounded kind and funny and strong. We talked for over an hour that first call with no awkwardness or hesitation in conversation. It felt so natural and easy and wonderful. After that first call, we called once almost every day. We had sent a few selfies to each other by this point and I had heard his voice… now I wanted facetime. We were now about a month into this relationship and I told him I would like to facetime. It was super early for me, so I set an alarm so I wouldn’t miss him. I was in my pajamas, with no make up on, and my hair half slept on, but he didn’t seem to mind. When I answered and saw his face for the first time (outside of photos that is) I couldn’t help but become a smiling fool. I remember saying “Oh my goodness! You’re so cute!” And he was! Big smile. Bright and kind eyes. And a voice that I melted for. These phone dates would continue over the next several weeks and months. Very little sleep was had. Many moments of laughter and joy were shared. More selfies were sent as well as an occasional video of me dancing in my kitchen while doing dishes. He had asked me to be his girlfriend by now and I knew I was falling hard for him. I wanted so badly to finally see him in person. He was now back home in the states and out of quarantine. I began looking for flights and dates and we had talked about me coming to see him. Megan and Jared lived near post and so I could stay with them when I came. I had most everything figured out. Covid up until this point had been a blessing. It gave us both so much extra free time to pour into this growing relationship. But now that he was stateside again, all of the covid restrictions for travel and the army restrictions for covid began to put a halt to us seeing each other. I was determined to make something work. I found dates that would work for him and myself. I found a flight. And I was just about to purchase it. It was the beginning of June at this point and the Black Lives Matter movement had begun to get out of control. The riots had worsened and city after city were being looted. I was at work one June morning and had the tickets pulled up. I texted Jaymes the dates one last time and I got a text back, “Don’t buy them just yet. Things might be changing on my end. Not sure yet.” Disheartened I wrote back, “Ok, just let me know when you know!” Later that day, he called me at work (which he never did). I didn’t answer but texted, “At work. I’ll call when I’m off.” No response from him. As soon as I got off work I called him. “Hey what’s up!” I sounded chipper but a little worried also. “Hey. We are getting deployed again. Not sure where we are going. Don’t know how long we will be gone. I cannot take my cell phone and I have to be at company in five minutes. I’ll talk to you when I can. Bye babe.” I barely had time to say, “Ok, be safe! Bye babe.” Before I heard the click on the other end… To be continued!
1 Comment
|
2 Timothy 1:7For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND. Archives
March 2021
Categories |