Our story begins, surprisingly enough, with my grandfather. He was a kind man who had never met a stranger. He loved his job distributing paper products to local businesses (Please, no "Office" thoughts here!) because it meant he could chat with the friends he had made over the years. And brag on his grandchildren. Especially his only grand-daughter :) Two of his long-time friends were ladies in an accounting department at a local surgical clinic. Since the day I was born, he would take them pictures and tell them the latest on how wonderful I was...
Fast-forward 20 years and my sweet grandfather unexpectedly dies, leaving my grandmother in despair and quickly going into depression. I was home from college for the summer and trying to earn some money for an expensive internship I was doing at Focus on the Family in Colorado. I really felt like I was supposed to go live with my grandmother for the summer and try to cheer her up, but I needed to find a job in her city...
One of the ladies at the surgical clinic called to check up on my grandmother and see how she was doing. My grandmother explained that she was really struggling and that she was hoping I would get a job there so I could come and live with her. The very next day I got a phone call and they offered me a job on the spot without ever having met me!!! I had no idea that they had been hearing about how wonderful I was since I was little :)
So I moved in with my grandmother and began working in the medical records part of the surgical clinic. A few days later, I got a random phone call from a guy claiming to be the son of one of the ladies in accounting. I initially called him "sir" and was not even yet sure which lady was his Mom. He (Mark) told me that his Mom had told him of my "situation," that I was new in town and didn't know many people yet. He invited me to go to a college-aged Bible Study that evening. I politely declined, saying that perhaps I would go the following week. (Not really planning to, but just being nice.)
Mark tells me that ever since my first day on the job, his Mom had been bugging him to come and meet me. He at first refused, but she was persistent and he was curious. He tried to get her to tell me about the Bible Study so he wouldn't sound so crazy calling me up out of the blue, but she wouldn't do it. So he called me, never having met me, and I thought he was a little crazy!
The next day, I was up on a ladder, filing some medical records and my supervisor came and told me that I had a visitor. I noticed the little smile on her face, but couldn't imagine why. (Note: Mark had grown up knowing all the ladies in his Mom's office and they were all very interested and excited about his interest, another factor that I knew nothing about.) Mark introduced himself and said that he had to come by to let me know that he actually would not be at the Bible Study the next week because he was taking his youth group to camp for the week. And then he proceeded to invite me to go to the lake with him and a group of his friends tomorrow. (We were all off work for the 4th of July.) Once again, I politely declined.
Mark tells me that he went back to his apartment and told his roommate that he had just met the girl he was going to marry! How he got that out of our super short conversation in which I rejected him, I'll never know :) Although I thought he was cute, I still didn't know him from Adam and wasn't about to go anywhere with him.
But since he was going to be gone, I decided to go to the Bible Study the next week to see what kind of people he hung out with. I met his roommate, who was super nice, some of his other friends, had a good time, and decided that their theology wasn't heretical.
Mark tells me that he was incredibly upset that I went to the Bible Study without him because he was afraid that I would start to like his roommate instead :)
Later on that week, he called again and asked if we could have dinner together on Saturday night. (Note: all of our conversations are on the office phone because I haven't even given him my number yet.) I told him that I was going to be out of town visiting my parents for the weekend, and they lived a little over an hour away. So he asked if he could drive down and meet me for dinner somewhere in that town. (The guy just kept on trying! Which I liked!) So I told him that he was welcome to come have dinner with my folks and I, but since I didn't know him at all, I wasn't ready to go anywhere with him. So he agreed to do that and asked for my number so he could call later on for directions.
To make a super long story somewhat shorter, he called the night before our "date" and we talked for about 2 hours, finally starting to get to know each other. We had a great dinner with my folks and they and I both felt comfortable enough with him for me to go out and play some putt-putt and get ice cream. By the end of that date, I, also, was pretty convinced that we would end up spending the rest of our lives together!
Fast-forward 20 years and my sweet grandfather unexpectedly dies, leaving my grandmother in despair and quickly going into depression. I was home from college for the summer and trying to earn some money for an expensive internship I was doing at Focus on the Family in Colorado. I really felt like I was supposed to go live with my grandmother for the summer and try to cheer her up, but I needed to find a job in her city...
One of the ladies at the surgical clinic called to check up on my grandmother and see how she was doing. My grandmother explained that she was really struggling and that she was hoping I would get a job there so I could come and live with her. The very next day I got a phone call and they offered me a job on the spot without ever having met me!!! I had no idea that they had been hearing about how wonderful I was since I was little :)
So I moved in with my grandmother and began working in the medical records part of the surgical clinic. A few days later, I got a random phone call from a guy claiming to be the son of one of the ladies in accounting. I initially called him "sir" and was not even yet sure which lady was his Mom. He (Mark) told me that his Mom had told him of my "situation," that I was new in town and didn't know many people yet. He invited me to go to a college-aged Bible Study that evening. I politely declined, saying that perhaps I would go the following week. (Not really planning to, but just being nice.)
Mark tells me that ever since my first day on the job, his Mom had been bugging him to come and meet me. He at first refused, but she was persistent and he was curious. He tried to get her to tell me about the Bible Study so he wouldn't sound so crazy calling me up out of the blue, but she wouldn't do it. So he called me, never having met me, and I thought he was a little crazy!
The next day, I was up on a ladder, filing some medical records and my supervisor came and told me that I had a visitor. I noticed the little smile on her face, but couldn't imagine why. (Note: Mark had grown up knowing all the ladies in his Mom's office and they were all very interested and excited about his interest, another factor that I knew nothing about.) Mark introduced himself and said that he had to come by to let me know that he actually would not be at the Bible Study the next week because he was taking his youth group to camp for the week. And then he proceeded to invite me to go to the lake with him and a group of his friends tomorrow. (We were all off work for the 4th of July.) Once again, I politely declined.
Mark tells me that he went back to his apartment and told his roommate that he had just met the girl he was going to marry! How he got that out of our super short conversation in which I rejected him, I'll never know :) Although I thought he was cute, I still didn't know him from Adam and wasn't about to go anywhere with him.
But since he was going to be gone, I decided to go to the Bible Study the next week to see what kind of people he hung out with. I met his roommate, who was super nice, some of his other friends, had a good time, and decided that their theology wasn't heretical.
Mark tells me that he was incredibly upset that I went to the Bible Study without him because he was afraid that I would start to like his roommate instead :)
Later on that week, he called again and asked if we could have dinner together on Saturday night. (Note: all of our conversations are on the office phone because I haven't even given him my number yet.) I told him that I was going to be out of town visiting my parents for the weekend, and they lived a little over an hour away. So he asked if he could drive down and meet me for dinner somewhere in that town. (The guy just kept on trying! Which I liked!) So I told him that he was welcome to come have dinner with my folks and I, but since I didn't know him at all, I wasn't ready to go anywhere with him. So he agreed to do that and asked for my number so he could call later on for directions.
To make a super long story somewhat shorter, he called the night before our "date" and we talked for about 2 hours, finally starting to get to know each other. We had a great dinner with my folks and they and I both felt comfortable enough with him for me to go out and play some putt-putt and get ice cream. By the end of that date, I, also, was pretty convinced that we would end up spending the rest of our lives together!
2 comments:
Meg - though I've read your story before (either POH or your blog I guess?) I just love it. Soooo sweet! Looking forward to your posts this week!
Beautiful story :) Magda from Poland.
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