The 2006 Election

This week marks the 2-year anniversary of when Brandon and I rekindled our romance for good. We'd broken up in May, right after my birthday. His last words were "I'll call you soon." Well, 6 months went by with no call or email. I was just beginning to date somebody else, when Brandon e-mailed me out of the blue. He was coming to town for a couple weeks for the 2006 election and wanted to meet up for coffee and "closure." I was so mad at him that I almost refused but deep down I thought it would be a good idea so I could finally move on.

So we met in the lobby of his hotel (you'd better believe I looked my darn best that night!) and ended up talking for 4+ hours. A lot of confession and forgiveness took place for all the ways we'd been selfish and hurt each other in the past. We both fessed up to being Facebook stalkers of each other ;-)

At the end of it, he invited me to hang out with he and his friends the next night to go bowling. I guess I was a glutton for punishment, but I went along. Then he continued to ask me to "hang out" every single night for 2 weeks straight. He even invited me to his boss' election night party, where he ditched me for a while in a roomful of people I didn't know, but then came back just in time to see me handing my phone number to some random guy. Haha, I didn't give him my real number of course, but that couldn't have gone better if I had planned it myself!

After the election, he flew back to DC but continued to call and email me. I started to become really angry and frustrated since it seemed to me that he wanted the best of both worlds. It seemed that wanted to be single and in DC but to have a long distance "friendship" with me and keep me hanging around on the back burner in case he didn't find anybody better out there. We had already broken up half a dozen times in the past and I decided that this awful cycle had to end. So, he passed through town a few weeks later around Thanksgiving on his way back from China. We met for drinks and he brought me some sweet little presents. I held my ground though and, at the end of the night, told him that it had been nice to see him so much lately and have him back in my life but that our on-again-off-again relationship had to end. I basically ended up telling him "Marry me or else don't ever call me again."

Well, I left that night thinking that I would never hear from him again and that surely he must think I had lost my mind (maybe I did a little). Over a month passed without a peep from him, I continued to go on dates with that other guy and I continued to make plans to travel with my roommates after graduation. But then, a few days before Christmas, Brandon surprised me with a red rose, a huge bag of presents from he and his family, and an invitation to visit him in DC a couple months later. And the rest is history!

Anyways, I wrote out that whole story because I was just thinking yesterday how funny it is that God uses such ordinary things, like elections, to work in our lives. If it hadn't been an election year, I would have graduated and probably moved back to Seattle or California and never seen or heard from Brandon ever again. Funny how it was such a bad night for the GOP (although this year is sure to be worse) but it was such a great night for Brandon and I. Funny how perfect God's timing is. And funny how he works in our hearts to bring reconciliation, forgiveness, and revive love again. It was all so oddly coordinated that without God's guidance over the situation, nothing ever would have come with it. But God's plans are truly better than our own for our lives. Praise God for bringing Brandon and I together in marriage after such a long, painful journey to get there. And praise him for the lessons we learned along the way!

Here's a picture from that first night of bowling. Can you believe how young we both look!?!?!?