Picnic in the Park

I sat at the computer typing away and radioing across campus about a car blocking the garbage dumpster. It was an average day in the Campus Safety Office at Lee...the place I had called home for almost a year. I was planning to leave early from work to get on the softball bus and drive to western Tennessee, so I was slightly rushed trying to get all of my duties taken care of. I had heard of him, but had not yet met him. The new guys in town were causing quite a stir.

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I must pause here to interject some information that is necessary for the context of the story...

#1 I am a people person...we all know that! Doesn't really matter much who you are, I'm going to greet you with a smile and try to make you feel as welcomed as possible.

#2 Not much of a basketball fan...I made a great basketball stat girl because I couldn't care less what was going on in the game.

#3 I played and coached a minor sport...drove my own bus, pitiful recruiting budget, working a FULL time job on campus alongside acting as assistant coach for the softball team.

#4 I had recently been CRUSHED not once, but TWICE in relationships. We won't go into details about that only to say I had sworn off men for at least a year. This day fell in month #3 of that promise.

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So back to men causing quite a stir. New basketball coaching staff whirl on to campus and immediately we all know...Things are quite different now. I had heard the undercurrent..."Have you seen the new guy?" as they all look at the single, cute girl who has been devastated on two occasions. I give them the roll of the eyes and obligatory "I'm not dating this year. I'm rolling into the millenium solo...just me and the ole JC." Seemed to work...

For the time being anyway...

So, I'm working away trying to get all of my things done before I have to leave for my trip and in he walks.

Nike shorts

Golf shirt

Feathered over-product hair

Round glasses

A little arrogant

Totally NOT my type

Most importantly...almost irritated that this chic working in the campus safety office is one conversation between him getting his campus ID and all she was doing was "chatty chatty chatty" (in his words EXACTLY!).

He left.

I thought.

"Well he seems nice enough. Maybe I should make him a casserole."

He thought.

"Where's my cell phone? That girl took up WAY too much of my time."

That was our first meeting. Now, I could go on and on about what happened over the next six months but I can sum it up to pure work of God. A little golf, a broken bookshelf, and my mother who gently nudged me back on the dating scene with her best advice of my life, "How much more time are you going to give to (Boy #1)?" Stopped me dead in my tracks.

A few weeks and office emails later and we were inseparable. I still hated basketball and thought my sport got the raw end of the deal, but that fiesty competition kept us on our toes. It was quite unexpected and unpredictable. As a dear friend told the two of us the other night, "You two could not be more different, yet it works...somehow...someway."

And work it has.

He makes me rest, when I only want to go.

I make him feel, when all he wants to do is BE.

He watches The Bachelorette.

I watch basketball (sometimes!).

He eats meat and potatoes.

I eat veggies and pasta.

He snuggles with the kids in the bed every morning.

I take the kids to ride their bikes.

He overanalyzes and underreacts.

I overreact and miss half of what's going on.

Yin and Yang. Oil and Water. Robbie and Autumn.

Simply Stated..."Marriage takes work and the more you work the more marriage you get."

So, to celebrate the start of our 9th year of marriage, I decided to take us back to the place where it started. I sent him on a picture text scavenger hunt, until he found me...

Sitting in the Alumni Park at Lee...

We talked.

We planned.

We remembered.

I still hate basketball...

But, God I love that man.