Consider: How much time do you spend on a daily/weekly basis cultivating your marriage now? In what ways can you regain some of what has been lost in the daily shuffle of life?
Purpose this week to do something that reminds your husband of the youthful wife you once were - maybe it's wearing something you know he loves on you (remember we dressed to please back in those dating days!), go somewhere you both used to enjoy going together - alone!, look at photos together of the "good ol'days", watch a favorite movie, or just simply sit together talking, listening, dreaming, holding hands, rubbing his back, and simply paying attention to the amazing husband of your youth! Treasure him this week!
http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/2010/06/completing-him-challenge-begins-today.html
Here's our dating story!
Ian and I met when I was 17 and he, 18. Our mutual best friends, Scott and Katie, had invited us to go on a trip to Lake Mohave in Arizona with them. As I remember it, that was a really difficult summer for me. I had just come back home from my step brothers funeral in Montana. Chris was 18, engaged and just graduated when he died in a motorcycle accident. It was devastating to our whole family. By God's grace, we were all pulling through together. The invitation from my sweet friend, Katie, came at a time when I really needed to be with friends. I'm not sure how many of the people in our party knew what I was suffering with but I don't remember having to dwell on it much.
We had the greatest time on that trip. I wish I could say that I was wooed with affection, kindness and tenderness but Ian was nothing short of a nuisance. He couldn't wait to play a prank and make everyone laugh. 14 years later, not much has changed! We went our separate ways, I not giving much thought to him. I was preparing for my senior year of high school and he was headed to boot camp with the Army.
The summer that started on a bad note, ended on a bad note. On the first day back, to my last year of school, something terrible happened. The school bus my sister and I were riding on, crashed in the median of the interstate. The bus driver over corrected and sent all of us hurling across multiple lanes of traffic. When the dust settled, it was apparent that the bus had landed and my leg had gone out through a window and was pinned under the bus. I spent a week in the hospital and several months recovering from the accident.
With a prompting from Katie's mom, I wrote Ian a real letter (this was before email, that shows how old I am) with an article about the accident. We began a treasured season of getting to know each other through our correspondences. I just remember waiting eagerly at the mailbox for each letter. What a sweet time that was to get to know each other without the typical physical temptations. We had decided that we would meet up when he came home for a Thanksgiving break. However, Thanksgiving came and went without so much as a phone call from Ian. My heart was so sad and I felt a lose of a great friend. Ian later explained that he began reading the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and that he felt compelled to pursue courtships and not a dating relationship, blah, blah, blah. I was a teenage girl with my first broken heart. Here began a very distant season.
Time went by, he at school in New Mexico and I at school in Northern Arizona. A few years later, our paths crossed again at a sports event. When I saw him again, I knew, I had lingering anger and bitterness over the situation. I asked if we could meet sometime. Then, we were able to resolve our differences and move on as friends. We took swing dance classes together, played water polo and talked over frozen yogurt. (Still our favorite treat). Somehow, feelings of affection developed rapidly. Now begins the butterfly feeling season.
Katie, and her fiance, Joel, Ian's brother, invited us to go to California with them. This trip with Ian, he was nothing short of a gentleman. He took care of everything, treated me with such tenderness and kindness and considered me in every decision. He was so thoughtful at every turn. He made me laugh all the time. We had so much fun together. I remember being in the back seat with Katie and she asked, "so what do you think about Ian?". My answer to her was "I could see myself marrying this man." My answer shocked me as much as it shocked her. That was the beginning of our lives together. We dated for another 4 months, got engaged and were married 9 months later.
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