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.
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Rebecca & Teddy married in January of 2012.
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