How I became his Schmusebär

So Grace over at Camp Patton wrote out her love story and posted a link-up inspiring me to write out our love story.  It's something I've wanted to do, ours is an...interesting one lol  Now, if you follow Grace's blog, my writing probably won't put you into fits of laughter like hers does...and if you don't follow her blog, well why aren't you??

Chris "BT" Before Tiffany.  Ironically this was at a "disco dance" at the Mount...I was also there, but don't remember seeing him

Me BC.  This was my disco dance get-up

So.  On to the good stuff.

BC or "Before Chris" I had two serious relationships.  Both unhealthy, both more physical than I had liked, and both ended badly.  So as I graduated from the Mount in '09 I was single and finally (a little late) vowing never to let a man and a relationship have me compromise my beliefs ever again.  It's around this time I started reading books like Captivating, and hear talks by Christopher West and Jason Evert.  I was starting my Masters program in Pastoral Counseling and was a-ok with being single.

In November of '09 I went with my friends to our first alumni event, a dinner cruise along the Inner Harbor of Baltimore.  There was a "pre-party" at a bar owned by a Mount alum.  I was chatting with my roommate and scoping the scene (I'm a notorious people watcher, comes with the introverted territory).  My spidey senses settled on this guy chatting up with some alum that I knew were a few years older.  I leaned over to my roommate and said "Look at that guy, he reminds me of someone."  Which was our "code" for, he's a cutie! (Don't ask, it's a silly roommate thing).  Anyway, I left it at that.

Spent the remainder of the evening eating dinner and dancing on the boat...until, again, my introverted side came out screamin and I went off to the top of the boat to be by myself for a bit and enjoy the scenery.  I love city-scapes at night.  As I was standing up there taking some pictures the guy from the bar popped up out of no where asking if I wanted him to take a picture of me.  Guess that's better than a cheesy pick up line.  Anyway, we struck up a conversation and were pretty much inseparable for the rest of the night, talking and dancing.  We talked about school, *It is important to note here that he told me he went to the Mount* about my program, his work, friends, family, everything.  He asked my name, and Lord knows what for what reason I decided to tell him my full name, first and last.  Rule #1 broken of "when you meet a strange man."

I left the alumni event without saying good-bye.  I was nervous and worried about what this guy expected and didn't feel like dealing with it...so I left.  Yea, I'm mature.  The next day I found a "friend request" on Facebook and a new message.  I looked at his Facebook page and promptly yelled "HE LIED TO ME?!?!"  I then opened the message he sent me and read a profuse apology for lying to me about going to the Mount, that he actually went to Rutgers, his best friend went to the Mount which is why he was at the event.  He blamed it on the alcohol *think Jamie Foxx* After apologizing some more, he asked if he could get my number and could call me if he was ever back in Baltimore.  I gave it to him...more or less assuming nothing would EVER come of it.

I was wrong.  He tried to get me to come to Baltimore for New Years with him and some Mount people.  I kindly declined.  I had already made up my mind that this guy was NOT the kind of guy I wanted to talk to.  Chris clearly had other plans.  He continued to text me occasionally although nothing really came of it.  Plus, (this is bad, I know) I was sorta talking to another guy...but that never panned out (thank God).  Chris continued texting me, and I decided that if he really wanted to get to know me, I would be 100% up front with him...something that I generally saved for later in a relationship.

Here's where we get personal.  I told Chris that I was a virgin and would not be having sex until I was married.  I was almost positive that would send him running for the hills.  Boy was I wrong.  He told me that he had never been with a girl who wanted to wait, had only been in a few relationships that had not lasted more than a few months, and had never before said "I Love You" to a girl...and bottom line, he had not waited.  But he told me that he was enjoying getting to know me and really liked that I was different from other girls he knew.

Well...shoot.  Now what was I going to do?  He answered me pretty much how I would have always wanted (minus knowing that he himself had not waited...that was something I'd have to deal with in the future).  We continued to text, email, fbk message each other and were always up front and honest with each other, which was a breath of fresh air let me tell you.  It took me some time to trust him, my past with men, plus his little lie when we met.  Not to mention that when I thought about my "checklist,"  while Chris checked off most of my items, he didn't check them all off.  So did I really want to date him? *I know, the suspense is killing you*

I had read about how a man should pursue a woman...I had read about it, but never imagined it would happen.  Chris really did pursue me, despite my best attempts to push him away, shut him out, etc.  But, it wasn't until May of 2010, after quite a few failed attempts, that we finally went on our first date...

Which is a story for another post, that you can read here