about my valentine
Well, since it's Valentine's day, how about I tell you a bit about my Valentine?
I was not sure whether I should write a post like this, by fear of being flagged as "cheesy". At the end of the day, I'm keeping a blog to record my life, and the boy is a huge part of it. I won't go into great details about our story (though I do love a good love story), but will instead share a bit about the reality of long distance we are navigating through, and why he is worth it.
So, without further ado, here is a bit about us.
The boy and I met in Germany when we were both studying at Bodenseehof, a Bible School in a small town by Lake Constance named Friedrichsafen (for correct pronunciation, click here). A LOT happened between us meeting, leaving Germany and then starting to date long distance in June of 2016, four months after we had parted ways at the end of our semester. When I say "a lot happened," I do not mean just in terms of the progression of our relationship, but also in our separate lives. Much spiritual, emotional, personality-related changes and growth occurred during that timeline. Turns out it's true folks: eighteen and nineteen years old are not done maturing (in fact, 21-year-olds aren't either). Sometimes, I can't even recognize the two people we were in Germany. But it is a gift God brought the boy into my life then and that I get to continue doing life with the person he is becoming.
Long distance is hard. It requires an unbelievable amount of commitment, intentionality, trust and patience. It involves miscommunications because body language and tone are hard to capture in a text message. It involves feelings of loneliness because a conversation over Facetime just isn't quite as intimate as across a coffee table. It involves heartache because watching other couples walk hand in hand can be a painful reminder of how far the other person feels. It involves countdowns, jet lag, expensive flights and many tearful goodbyes.
People say distance makes the heart grow fonder. While this is true, sometimes distance kind of just sucks.
But the boy and I are learning that it is filled with good, too.
The distance has forced us to pace ourselves and really savor every step of the process. The distance has led us to trust deeply, communicate well and lean on our faith. It has invited us to be creative, through letter writing and packages (Amazon Prime has become a close friend of mine). It has allowed us to know each other deeply, because we talk a lot. We can't just sit side by side and watch a movie like most couples do. Instead, hours and hours are spent discussing our lives, convictions, frustrations, prayers and dreams.
In June of 2016, the boy flew across the country (from Vancouver to Montréal) to ask me out. By that point, after months of praying and talking about our friendship and seeing if we could pull off this whole "long distance" thing, I knew he was worth it. There were a lot of unknowns, a multitude of challenges I knew we would have to work through- but I knew I was willing to invest in this. Today, over six hundred days later, I still know it.
Dating has forced me to confront a lot of my own pride and selfishness. It has allowed me to learn to deal with conflict and work through differences. It has involved 2743038308469 apologies and 2743038308469 "I forgive yous." (ok. maybe 2743038308468 because he still is working through my addiction to reality TV)
Loving the boy is paradoxical; it involves a whole lot of hard work, but it is so dang easy.
There are so many qualities I love about this handsome valentine of mine. He is generous, funny, patient and spontaneous. He is a great communicator and a sincere friend. He's genuine, unapologetically himself and standing firmly behind his convictions. He loves sacrificially. He uses his gifts of leadership and creativity to serve the Church. He is quick to ask for forgiveness and wants to better himself. He reminds me of truth, and he points me to Christ when I get in over my head. He reminds me to be laid back and live in the present, which has never been easy for me to do. Prayer is his first reaction, not his last resort. He challenges me, is willing to compromise, uplifts my opinions and dreams, and cherishes me well. I see what God is doing in his life, and I don't want to miss out on it.
I was not sure whether I should write a post like this, by fear of being flagged as "cheesy". At the end of the day, I'm keeping a blog to record my life, and the boy is a huge part of it. I won't go into great details about our story (though I do love a good love story), but will instead share a bit about the reality of long distance we are navigating through, and why he is worth it.
So, without further ado, here is a bit about us.
The boy and I met in Germany when we were both studying at Bodenseehof, a Bible School in a small town by Lake Constance named Friedrichsafen (for correct pronunciation, click here). A LOT happened between us meeting, leaving Germany and then starting to date long distance in June of 2016, four months after we had parted ways at the end of our semester. When I say "a lot happened," I do not mean just in terms of the progression of our relationship, but also in our separate lives. Much spiritual, emotional, personality-related changes and growth occurred during that timeline. Turns out it's true folks: eighteen and nineteen years old are not done maturing (in fact, 21-year-olds aren't either). Sometimes, I can't even recognize the two people we were in Germany. But it is a gift God brought the boy into my life then and that I get to continue doing life with the person he is becoming.
Long distance is hard. It requires an unbelievable amount of commitment, intentionality, trust and patience. It involves miscommunications because body language and tone are hard to capture in a text message. It involves feelings of loneliness because a conversation over Facetime just isn't quite as intimate as across a coffee table. It involves heartache because watching other couples walk hand in hand can be a painful reminder of how far the other person feels. It involves countdowns, jet lag, expensive flights and many tearful goodbyes.
People say distance makes the heart grow fonder. While this is true, sometimes distance kind of just sucks.
But the boy and I are learning that it is filled with good, too.
The distance has forced us to pace ourselves and really savor every step of the process. The distance has led us to trust deeply, communicate well and lean on our faith. It has invited us to be creative, through letter writing and packages (Amazon Prime has become a close friend of mine). It has allowed us to know each other deeply, because we talk a lot. We can't just sit side by side and watch a movie like most couples do. Instead, hours and hours are spent discussing our lives, convictions, frustrations, prayers and dreams.
In June of 2016, the boy flew across the country (from Vancouver to Montréal) to ask me out. By that point, after months of praying and talking about our friendship and seeing if we could pull off this whole "long distance" thing, I knew he was worth it. There were a lot of unknowns, a multitude of challenges I knew we would have to work through- but I knew I was willing to invest in this. Today, over six hundred days later, I still know it.
Dating has forced me to confront a lot of my own pride and selfishness. It has allowed me to learn to deal with conflict and work through differences. It has involved 2743038308469 apologies and 2743038308469 "I forgive yous." (ok. maybe 2743038308468 because he still is working through my addiction to reality TV)
Loving the boy is paradoxical; it involves a whole lot of hard work, but it is so dang easy.
There are so many qualities I love about this handsome valentine of mine. He is generous, funny, patient and spontaneous. He is a great communicator and a sincere friend. He's genuine, unapologetically himself and standing firmly behind his convictions. He loves sacrificially. He uses his gifts of leadership and creativity to serve the Church. He is quick to ask for forgiveness and wants to better himself. He reminds me of truth, and he points me to Christ when I get in over my head. He reminds me to be laid back and live in the present, which has never been easy for me to do. Prayer is his first reaction, not his last resort. He challenges me, is willing to compromise, uplifts my opinions and dreams, and cherishes me well. I see what God is doing in his life, and I don't want to miss out on it.
I love you P. Our third Valentine's Day together, and it's only getting sweeter.
Here's to many more.
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| A picture by my talented friend Victoria, from Wilder Heart Media!
*Link with Ducks n' a Row for this post, from Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop.
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