4 Years Ago Today, Part 2

If you missed part 1 of my love story, you can find it here.

The weekend was full of more training, meals, and an opportunity to serve in one of the local churches. Monday had come and with it came checking out of my 2 week home, a lot of down time for the first time in weeks, and the start of the missionary conference. I’d gotten to know a couple people some during the prior weeks, knew a handful of people a little, and recognized some. But in this group of several hundred, most people were new to me. I felt safe in this environment however and my open and overly friendly personality flourished among so many. I enjoyed my dinner at the conference with a table full of people I’d never before met, adding another handful of acquaintances to my roster.

After dinner, I wandered from the dinning hall to the college campus gym, where the main evening sessions would take place. It never bothered me to be at these things alone. I actually preferred it. There was great freedom in being able to come and go as I wanted, without the feeling that I should sit with so and so, or talk with so and so. On my own I could judge each situation and each moment on my own and make social decisions impromptu. I loved it.

As I walked into the “conference center” with my computer bag slung over my shoulder, I looked around. There weren’t many people inside yet as there was still a bit of time before the start of that first evening session. To my left were rows and rows of bleacher seats and spread in front of me were rows and rows of metal chairs set up on the floor in front of the stage. Just to the back of those chairs, near the production stage (is that what you would call that place where they control all the power points and sound and such) I spotted that guy I’d met Friday. Hey, there’s that guy I met the other day, I thought.

“Hi,” I said walking up to him. He responded the same way, with a smile and a greeting. (Only later would I find out that I’d made his whole day and that he was only standing there in hopes of seeing me that evening.) “How was your weekend?” I asked him. He’d been camping with his church, something I’d never heard of any church doing. We talked a few minutes before I excused myself to find a seat to put my laptop, growing ever heavier, down on.

Once I’d chosen a chair in the rows of floor seating, I turned to find the restrooms before too many more people were around and I’d gotten to talking again. Some more people had gathered in the meeting room by the time I returned and as I rounded the production stage to my seat I heard a voice.

“Can you get that for me?” I turned and looked around, unsure if I was the one being talked to. Standing on the production stage was the guy I’d just been talking to minutes before. I looked at him, then down at the floor in front of me where he glanced. A rubber band!

“Did you just shoot this at me?!?” I asked, shocked to be in the situation.

“Yeah,” he replied smiling. I didn’t know what to say, or how to react. It had been a long time since anyone had done something like that, and I didn’t know this guy at all.

“Well, you missed,” was my only reply as I handed it back to him.

To be continued…

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Part 3

Part 4

Labels: A love story

posted by ~Babychaser~ @ 7:53 AM