lyndsay & matt

Fall Semester, 2001 (Sophomore year of college)

Scene: my bedroom after a class with him

I hated him. He was so annoying – always taking over the discussion, and he clearly had absolutely no understanding of social cues.  

I couldn’t believe I’d have to spend 4 months with him while studying abroad with only 15 other students as buffer. How could I survive? I hated him, but I wouldn’t let that stop me from going. NO. I WAS GOING, DAMMIT.

Spring Semester, 2002

Scene: 1^st stop on a 4 month tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland

Well, here we are. 17 students, one professor. London, Dublin, Edinburgh for 4 months. And, yes, he’s here too. 

Scene: 3^rd stop on our tour

It’s been about a week since we arrived, and I’m starting to see that everyone in the group feels the same way about him. They are mocking him behind his back. No one is hanging out with him. 

Scene: 4^th stop on our tour

The group dynamic hasn’t been working very well. 17 non-friends pulled together while traveling and studying is harder than I thought. The women (all 13 of us!) seem to get along well, but the guys are trying to fit in and they don’t get along well with each other. It’s weird. Something needs to be done. 

I open my journal. I write everyone’s name down and one good trait. Then, I write one way that I can be their friend. Yes, his name is there. Yes, I found one way to be his friend. (No, I did not write an entire paragraph on ways that I could treat him better. Why would you think I would do that? I wasn’t feeling guilty at all.)

Starting that day, I attempted to be his friend. To find the good. Someone had to. May as well be me.

Scene: Bath, England, approximately 10^th stop on the tour

We went on a walk together. At this point, we are established friends. We don’t hang out much, but when we do, it’s fun. He has a great sense of humor, and I think I’m beginning to see why he works the way he does. 

We are with another friend, and we meander through a garden. It’s romantic, even though the other friend is there, too. 

Fall Semester, 2002 (Junior year)

Scene: 1^st day arrival at my dorm

He called the dorm even before I arrived. He was waiting for me. My mom teased that he was the one.  

lyndsay & matt were married in august 2004 and have a son, Isaac.

rebecca & teddy

{from her}
Here's something I wrote June, 2010 the summer Teddy and I started dating in response from a friend for "details" about Teddy. 


On the way from Columbus to Norwalk to pick up my violin and drop Teddy off at home I got a little sleepy driving so, since Angela Rak was reading a story to us, Teddy offered to drive. An Ohio country road with new crops and white, old farmhouses decorating its shoulders sped by us as we delighted in the story. Relaxing in the backseat, I dozed off and on. I knew that Teddy was keenly aware of my presence behind him.

Then, up ahead, we saw billows of smoke over the road and a fire burning the grass next to the road. Teddy didn't slow down soon enough and as sure as an obscured end table threatens a stubbed toe in an unknown dark room, so the large white van stopped in the middle of smoke almost destroyed us. Teddy swerved and slammed on the breaks, driving the car partially through a ditch—through the only patch not lit by fire—before it came to a stop in the field.

We were all buckled up. My only injuries were bruised hips and a scraped shin. Angela had a headache. Teddy felt fine. We stepped out of the car. The sun was beginning to lower on the tree-outlined horizon and, honestly, the first thing I thought was "What a beautiful place to get to spend time with Teddy."

The old farmer from across the way came jogging over with a kind of awkward jaunt to check up on us. He told us to try and put the slowly approaching fire out near our car, left, and returned atop his huge tractor to drag dirt over the flames. The tow truck was on its way.

I comforted Teddy with a gentle hand on his back as the three of us stood at the hood of the car, wondering how much that huge dent in the front would impair its function. Eventually, the fire department came and so did the police. Since Teddy was driving he had to fill out the forms and accident report. He stepped away into the yellowed, tall grass and squatted down to write. He was wearing a white long-john style shirt and old torn jeans, his beard grown a few days. Angela looked at me and said quietly, “He looks like a poet.”

A few minutes later, we all waited quietly by the car; Teddy and I side by side facing the sinking sun and Angela in front of us. “Your eyes are almost the same color,” she smiled.

Teddy and I looked toward each other, faces searching. “I didn’t know my eyes were so blue,” I said quietly.

That night Angela and I slept at Teddy’s and he drove us back to Columbus the next day. Teddy and I talked and he told me he would wait for me, for the end of my commitment to singleness. This was the first expression of his affection. He had been holding it in so as not to make my commitment difficult. I almost cried, Joe. I looked away blurry-eyed for sure.

There was much prayer and space during those first days. We talked each night, dealing with big issues and wondering big things. Later that week he said, “I would be honored if you would trust me with the timing for when to ask you to leave your season of singleness.” I did not answer that night, though, in my heart, I wanted this. I told him yes the next day.

Not 5 days later we spent an afternoon and evening at a state park that is between our towns. After eating lunch while watching for birds, exploring the park bare-footed, skipping stones in the creek, and sitting on a picnic bench found there in the middle of the water, Teddy told me he wanted us to be dating. My initial reaction was, 'Woah! Fast fast… what am I supposed to do with this?'

A few minutes later, without realizing my own words I said, “Who’s to say this—us sitting here cross-legged, knees together, under the stars, wondering together—isn’t the Kingdom?” I really sensed that God was gifting us with each other. We both desired to know and encourage one another, pursue God, and love people. And the presence of romance does not exclude the coming of the Kingdom. 

___________________________________________________

Rebecca & Teddy married in January of 2012. 

chelsea & mike

{from her}

I distinctly remember a tingle in my stomach when I first saw Michael. The church was set up differently and in walks a handsome young man who sat in the section to the left and about 3 rows behind me. After the service, I calmly dashed over to introduce myself and welcome him with no ulterior motives (well, not totally). I invited him to lunch with a group and was delighted to give him a ride there. The moment I began learning his story and his graceful outlook on others and life, I knew we held a connection that would change my life. (Throughout lunch, another guy was flirting with me relentlessly to which Michael thought I was finding delight. Not so.) The next few days and nights were filled with heart and soul conversations, glasses of wine, little sleep and a lot of evolving emotions.

 
Michael was helping my neighbor with an all-nighter of work and I stayed up to make cookies from scratch (as I would for anyone). One night they worked super late and Michael asked if he could sleep on our couch. I decided to make him more comfortable and slept on the other couch. As we were falling asleep, he reached over to grab my hand.  I was a giddy young girl. 

You see, this man had faced many difficulties in life. He caused me to expand my view of love and grace. He was considering the life of monk hood and here he was holding my hand! Shortly after, we were bike riding along the Olentangy River trail and stopped to lay on a hill and look at stars. My body was tense every time I inched closer to him and relieved at each movement he made towards me. Eventually he was holding me in his arms and I knew they were the arms I wanted to be held by for life. 

The poor man- he was stumbling through his words and had a nervousness about him and when we arrived back at my house, he ran his hand through my hair and blurted out “I love you!” to which I could not deny my own affection towards him. Two weeks and we knew we were falling in love.

Record Store Baby

A while ago, I saw this: 

The story made me want to know more about Hanif's parents and everyone else who had unlikely stories of coming to know their significant other, so I started collecting them....