A Painting and A Story

Remember when I showed you this picture?

Well, I finally finished that painting for our bedroom. 

(I know...it looks so lonely on that wall. I'm on the hunt for a dresser.)

It's not the most elaborate or perfect painting I've ever done but it has our story woven into it. These are lyrics from 'our song' the summer we first started dating. The song is "Til Kingdom Come' by Coldplay. 

The first chords of the song still grab at my heart every time I hear it. It transports me back to a time when things were both completely uncertain and absolutely certain between his heart and mine. 

Chris and I most likely met first when we were toddlers, attending the same church our families attended. But we really remember meeting early in our high school years through a friend, Emily, who I went to high school with and still attended that church with Chris. Chris and I saw each other every now and then when I would hang out with Emily's friends from church.  He was a goofy, hilarious kid and while I enjoyed his company, it never crossed my mind that he would be more than that. 

The summer before our junior year in high school, we attended the same Leadership camp together. While there, I met a guy that I ended up dating for the next four years--it wasn't Chris. (I was also, apparently pursued by several guys that week, but as Chris likes to remind me, I was clueless to that!) Chris and I become better friends but as far as I knew, that was all. (But remember, I'm clueless.) 

 (See, we even matched back then... how could I not have known??)

So, four years go by. I'm dating this other guy and Chris, having fallen in love with me, is waiting patiently for me to wise up. In the spring of 2006, his plebe class is allowed access to Facebook! He quickly looks me up and checks on my 'status'--single. 

My best friend, Emily is marrying his best friend, Sam, that summer and we are both in the wedding. So, through Facebook, and on AIM, we start to chat more and I make several flirty comments that Chris takes as encouragement and I again, am clueless to what I'm doing to this poor man. 

One day, I suggest we go shopping for wedding presents for our friends. Chris seizes the opportunity and takes me to coffee. He confesses his love for me (well, not quite, but pretty much) and I'm surprised but my heart begins to open to this handsome blonde man in front of me. That night we head back to my parent's house where we make peanut butter and bacon sandwiches (this is when I knew we were soulmates) and talked into the wee hours of the night. 

We had our first official date on June 24th, 2006, one week before Sam and Emily's wedding. Chris wanted to take me to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra but we got lost, in a thunderstorm and it ended up being a memorable first date to Barnes and Noble. 

Soon after we started dating, Chris sent me this song and every time I hear it, I think of the four years my husband spent waiting for me to fall in love with him. And through the years, we've had many separations where we've had to wait for the other to return,  but "I wouldn't change a single thing".