Monday, July 07, 2008

Reagan- My Love Story

I love to read romance novels! I have to admit that I am a sucker for a well written, well beloved romance writer. If you give me a good one to read, I more than likely will have it read in less than a day if not in an afternoon.
Since my first real romance novel, The Bluebird and the Sparrow by Janette Oke, I have dreamed of what my love story would consist of. Of course tall, dark and handsome are kind of the normal when you first get started. Hey you have to start somewhere, right?
I dreamed of the million different ways I was going to meet him. On the street, at a party, while in college, even at church when his family walked in for the first time and introduced themselves.
Yes, I even dreamed of the dashing young prince coming along on his large white horse, sweeping me off my feet and carrying me into his castle where we were wed and lived happily ever after. Okay, so I knew that dream wouldn't come true, but it was a fun dream. And if you are a girl, you've had similar dreams. Don't go denying it either.
I had days when I would look at someone and think to myself "Could he be the one?" Scratch that. I seemed to have this criteria for what it was I was looking for and at my every look, it went splat like a water balloon, spilling out all over the sidewalk as he walked by. Definitely not the one!
And then my brother did a strange thing. He found a wife on Eharmony! Go figure! My brother find a girl, and get married!!!!!????? It sounded crazy, but it really happened.
I figured if my brother could find someone like that so could I! So I tried.
You don't know how many matches I had. As a matter of fact I don't know how many matches I had. But one right after another came up and one right after the other got scratched off the list. No way!
Around July I was getting rather discouraged over the whole thing. I almost gave up, but I decided to give myself three more months. Maybe, Just maybe something would come up.
Then it happened!
In September I got yet another list of names and started going through them closing down yet more that I really had no interest in or that had no interest in me. Then I came across this one match. It was
everything I hadn't planned on. Worst of all he was far away, like Texas far away. Right away I had my pointer on the close button. Then I stopped. I went back up to the top of the page and read his profile. It intrigued me. I decided to wait to hit the close button. Maybe later I would, but today from some reason I wasn't ready to do it.
Then a few days later I got a communication from him. I was stunned. I seriously did not expect anything to come out of me not closing him down. But I was so intrigued by this that I had to answer him. That was extremely dangerous!
We asked and answered many questions before we started talking about our families, likes, dislikes and everything else under the sun.
Then we told our families! That was fun! I don't know about his parents, but when I told my family that I had met someone named Reagan and he was from Texas they were all in a little bit of shock.
I let the name Reagan sink in for awhile, but kept back a very important characteristic about him that I had told only one person.
At Christmas I finally revealed the one thing that I had held back from my parents, Reagan was blind.
It surprised my parents, but for me it was never an issue. Since the day he told me, I was very fascinated. To me it was adventure.
Slowly and over time I would reveal this fact to more and more people, but I still didn't tell everyone.
Valentine's day was the beginning of a change for Reagan and I. He sent me flowers. It was like a light had turned on and a door had opened that had been just beyond our sight. We started talking literally every night. It was easier during that time because Reagan was in Arlington, VA and in the same time zone as I was. I knew there was something somewhere along the line that had changed between us so I went into my dad's office and pulled off a book from his shelf that I knew I needed to read, The Five Love Languages. I told Reagan about the book and discovered that he had actually bought the book and was about to read it. So over Easter while he was flying back from Easter brake, but he read the book.
That night we knew God had put us together and that we were meant for each other.
We started making plans in earnest. We already knew Reagan was coming in June, but we both realized after many long discussions that he wasn't just coming to meet me, he was coming to propose to me.
In April I got sick and the next day discovered a bouquet of beautiful flowers waiting for me at the front door.
Then one night I called Reagan on the phone, and knew instantly something was wrong. He had fallen down the stairs and for the next two or three hours I kept him saine as he battled the utter pain that he was in. I would have gone instantly to him if I could have. I was even more positive about my decision to marry him.
30 days before he was to come, I recieved two dozon roses at work making my coworkers jealous.
On June 19, as I watched the plane touch that Reagan was in my heart began to race. I asked myself what in the word I was doing. My heart was smashing out of my chest so hard I was sure everyone could see it.
As I got my first glimpse of Reagan coming out of the gate every emotion was running through me. But as soon as we had hugged and then started away from the gate walking with him was as natural as if I had been doing it all my life.
June 20 found us on our first date. In my mind I thought it was a disaster just simply because it was pouring rain and I couldn't find my way to where we were going. On the way home it was a rather quiet ride. I knew in the back of my mind that Reagan was going to ask me to marry him that night. Call it woman's intuition, I just knew.
We got home and I was very disappointed because it was freezing cold and Reagan thought it best we didn't go for a walk.
Reagan went up stairs and I followed him a few minutes later. He pulled me into his arms and began to quote something beautiful to me. At the time all I could think about was the beauty of the promise he had told me.
And then in the dark in the middle of the room, Reagan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. All the words I was going to tell him when he asked me disappeared. To this day I can't remember what I was going to say. All I could say was Yes!
That night everything seemed to go wrong, and yet in the end I wouldn't have changed anything. It was so amazing as he slipped the sliver heart shaped ring with a gold cross onto my finger. I knew I had made the right choice.
And so on April 25, 2009 Reagan Lynch and I will be getting married and starting our own love story that is even better than any romance book anyone could ever write.

2 comments:

Hannah Schaefer said...

What an incredibly sweet story! I hope you both will be very happy together!

Anonymous said...

Teresita said...
How lovely! I shall share it with my granddaughter along with your view of Why Shepherds and Wise Men (which is also my view, just that you say it better).