The year I graduated from high school (this dates me) Savage Garden released my favorite song of all time, Truly Madly Deeply. My bff Jennifer and I would lie on our backs in the little trailer parked in her parent's driveway (my temporary summer home), play this song on permanent repeat, look at the stars and dream...we were (are) both dreamers. And hopeless romantics. We dream big and soar high. I was most definitely dreaming VERY big right about then...I had declared to everyone who would listen that I was going to marry a man that I was not even dating...who, in fact, had told me we COULDN'T date. If you want the whole truth, we were barely friends. Not to be dissuaded by minor setbacks, I was nearing stalker status. He was way out of my league...I don't know where I got the notion that this would actually WORK, but I schemed and plotted every opportunity to spend time with him. I bolted across campus when I heard his car coming (YES, it's true, I could distinguish the SOUND of his car!) to "bump into" him as he checked in at the guard station. I would forget my umbrella on rainy days knowing that he was SUCH a gentleman that he'd offer to walk me to my next class. I would sit on the end of the aisle and not let anyone sit on that side of me so that there'd be a seat there JUST IN CASE he happened to walk in late and need a quick spot to sit. I even somehow got his sister to convince him to invite me to a Valentine's banquet, as "friends." I remember that Valentine's day like it was yesterday...I was on CLOUD TEN AND A HALF. For me, that was it. It was all over. I was ruined for all future potential relationships. If I couldn't marry him, I wouldn't marry ANYONE.
It's been 10 years since that Valentine's Day and now that crazy crush has a new name...marriage...but it doesn't feel any different. James alters my whole world in ways that I didn't know a single human being could. He's still waaaay out of my league. He possesses qualities that have changed my perspective on life, the world around me, and given me insights on the love of God. Never before have I met someone so genuinely unselfish and giving of himself. I had never experienced love like that. When I realized that God's love is exponentially more giving, I was blown away. I literally sit in awe and wonder of how God could create such an amazing person. And with such a high starting point, it blows my mind that God is a million times moreso himself.
Today I stand on a mountain with him, sometimes we bathe in the sea; but I still dream...and I will...until the sky falls down on me.
Here's some pics from last night...Jadon couldn't sleep so I made a deal with him...if he'd let me take some pictures I'd let him stay up a little later. :) I think I got the better end of the deal.
