Our story - part 5

My apologies for this being long overdue. We've been working on the house getting it ready to be put on the market. The obvious questions are "where are you moving?" and "why?" These are the answers I'm trying to answer by telling our story. So please be patient while I get through the whole story. (My stories are never short.) Also, if you're wondering "when?" we don't have this answer yet. Maybe by the end of the telling of this story that answer will be known.

So Jason and I started dating May of 2007. It was a long distance relationship but we made the effort of seeing each other every weekend. After a few months it was Jason who usually made the 3 hour trip to Dayton, but I did try to get out to Olive Hill at least once a month.

By this time I knew I really liked Jason's personality and I enjoyed spending time with him, but I had reservations. First, he was way too good to be true. I had dated guys like this in the past and they used lies to convince me they were something they were not. So I was always on the alert to catch Jason in a lie - because I assumed he was one of those guys.

Another thing that bothered me was that he always had to hold my hand, have his arm around me, or be sitting right next to me. I'm not a touchy-feely person and was afraid that Jason was the clingy type.

These things bothered me but was it enough to end things with him? No. I figured I'd keep going forward and see if things got better or worse. But honestly I really wasn't optimistic about the relationship. In the back of my head I kept thinking that what I expected would happen and the relationship would end.

I remember one phone call where I freaked out on him and tried to break up with him over the phone. He actually refused to let me end it that way. He wouldn't let me dump him. We laugh about it now, but obviously his refusal worked and I listened to him. (Guys - this won't happen often, so don't try it unless it's really worth it.)

There was another time where we were saying good bye one Sunday night and he said something that made me respond with a reminder that I didn't want to talk about marriage until we had been dating 6 months. He turned and looked at me and said "I am the man in this relationship and *I* will determine when we get engaged." I looked at him like he was crazy but this really impressed me. Of course he would wait until that 6 months though (or so I thought). Little did I know that he had already started to pick out an engagement ring.

In September of 2007 we got a new partner in the Cincinnati office. (All you TH people are groaning right now and wondering what she has to do with our story. Heh.) I was sent down to Cincinnati for the week to put all the transferred files in our docketing system and stayed at a hotel that week.

That weekend we had a conference at church and I was doing the overheads for most of the sessions. I was exhausted from my marathon days at work and then I had to drive back to Dayton Friday afternoon with a headache. I got home where Jason was waiting on me and took a quick nap before we headed to church. The headache was better, but I was wore out.

We stopped at Taco Bell to get dinner and both of us got burritos. (I hesitate at this part of the story because I hate telling this story. Those who have heard it before are either cringing or snickering at this point.) I was driving and tried to eat my burrito. Unfortunately whomever made the burrito did it with little care and beans were squishing out in 3 different places. I was so frustrated that I did something that even to this day I can barely believe I did.

I opened the window and threw it out onto the road. Wrapper and all.

Jason just sat there for a moment and didn't say anything at first. He took a bite of his burrito and after a dirty look from me offered it to me. I didn't want it, so he put it back in the bag. And then I started crying. There was a lot more going on, of course, but even I wasn't quite sure what the problem was. Other than being really really wore out.

We got to church and Jason went in to let them know I wouldn't be doing overheads. I pulled it together and after talking to Scott (Sliver) and Jason went inside to just listen to the worship music. I was okay for a few songs, but then the tears started again and we had to leave. Jason and I had a long talk out in the parking lot where I let him know it wasn't him, it was just a lot of stuff from my past coming back to haunt me.

And he understood. He listened and offered comfort and I felt so much better.

Here's the thing. Jason had the ring that weekend. He was ready to propose. He had shown the ring to a few people on the worship team. Of course my burrito-flinging and crying had made him reconsider any proposal that weekend. I kinda wonder what those worship team people were thinking when I left crying...

It really wasn't the right weekend anyway. We still had unanswered questions and I wasn't 100% sure he was the right one.

Funny the difference 48 hours makes. (To be continued...)