5 years strong!

Today as my brother went back to work at Camp Willow Run for his 4th summer, I was reminded that 5 years ago I met the love of my life. Funny how time has gone by so fast and how my thoughts on him have changed since that first meeting.

For those of you who don't know, Jeremy and I met at Camp Willow Run where we both were on summer staff. Jeremy says he can remember everything about that May 23, 2002 when he first saw me in the parking lot. He "says" I was wearing a red (it was fushia) shirt and I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He said he had an immediate attraction but thought there was no way a girl like me would ever go for him. My side of the story, I don't really remember him from that day. With all the new faces to learn and reaquainting myself with the old ones, the whole day was a blur.

The first time I remember him even talking to me was when he began picking on me for carrying my folded bleacher/camping chair with my Bible and training notebook. He said it looked like a teacher bag and I said, "Great, because I'm going to be a teacher." My first memory of him was one of rudeness and annoyance. My next memory then came when we had to sign up for water activities. He "just happen" to sign up on both of my boats at the same time. Annoyed, I asked Colleen to accompany me so that I wouldn't have to be with him by myself. Once we got to the water, he sat in front of me on the banana boat and sat on my handles. For fear of falling off, I had to hold onto something so I grabbed the back of his life jacket, praying the whole time that he wouldn't think anything of me holding onto him. From that point on, I didn't really pay him any mind until it became obvious that he liked me. He complimented me on a dress I was wearing out to dinner the last night of staff training and I could tell he liked me.

Like any girl, I enjoyed the attention and the praise. I began to see him in a different light the more we had to interact with one another. That next week we had the campers from the juvenile detention centers and I found myself wanting to take the snack to his cabin each night. My affection for him was starting to grow and I was interested in getting to know him better.

At the end of that week, the staff all went to Rocky Mount to eat dinner and hang out since we had an extra night. I volunteered to take him to the bank and found a way to be in his group always. Later that night, I felt horrible when he got lost following me through the old part Rocky Mount. We never found him and Jared and I felt so awful that when we finally got back to camp I was determined to apologize him. The lights were off in the MU so I had to wait until morning. The next morning I immediately got up and went to apologize and ended up going to lunch with him and some other guys.

At lunch we decided to go sailing once we got back and we would all meet down at the boats. Little did I know, that no one would show up and it would just be the 2 of us. We went sailing that lovely afternoon and then ended up getting stuck out there when the wind died. 4 hours later, Shannon Innes comes out and pull us in. Our 4 hour excursion really forced us to to get to know one another. After that boat ride, I really liked him but it wasn't until a few weeks later that we finally established what was going on. Thanks to the rumors and gossip of the staff, we were forced to talk about how we felt. Because we were at camp, we couldn't officially date, so we continued to hang out all summer and officially became a couple on August 4th.

A year later, we were engaged, and a year after that we were married. He is the most amazing man and I feel extremely blessed to be his wife. A kind, selfless, servant who has a heart for the Word and teaching it to others. Five years have really changed my thoughts about this man, but I could never imagine my life without him.

(Thanks for reading down this far. I know this has been my longest post yet!)