A Picturesque Life

I thought I’d share my version of how Joshua and I became a couple to go with my first wedding picture post. You can read his version here.

I knew who Joshua was for a long time…because his mother is the song director at our church. So, actually, I saw him for years before I saw him for the first time. The first time I really noticed him was during a choir presentation.

I joined the choir in February of 2004. I believe he joined it the following summer (he’s not here for me to ask). Our church was having a Night of Praise and the choir was doing some really great music. I remember the music being a lot of fun.

We were supposed to be at the church at 5:00 for a reheresal the night of the performance. I had guitar practice from 4:30-5:30 so I was late for rehersal. There are no assigned seats in choir….you just sit with your section. I’m an alto. He’s a (wonderul, fabulous, talented) tenor. When I got to the rehersal it was packed and there was nowhere for me to sit.

I asked Mrs. Lisa (my mother-in-law, choir director) where she wanted me and she asked her son, Joshua, to scoot over and let me sit by him. (Now, I only found out later that she had been encouraging him to ask me out…isn’t she sneaky?) So, I end up sitting by Joshua.

Now, I had heard from others what a wonderful voice Josh had but I had never actually heard him before. I’ve heard his sister, brother, and mother all sing before and I knew they were quite talented.

But that night I heard him sing. And boy, can he sing! He has a most amazing voice. I also happened to notice that night that he was terribly cute!

I guess I kinda had a crush on him after that. But, I was trying to be a lady and I just cannot stand when girls chase guys. I think it looks desperate and pathetic. And, I really didn’t know anythig about him. So, I just admired him from a distance for a long time.

Around October my computer whacked out. My mother had heard from someone in her cell group that Joshua fixed computers and gave church member discounts. So, after about two weeks I worked up the nerve to ask him to fix my computer. This was actually the first time we talked. Ever. (We might have said hello or excuse me before…but that would definately have been it.)

Well, my computer worked for about an hour. So the problem had not been fixed. I really didn’t want to ask him to fix it again though so I kinda put it off. Finally, after my mother gave me a really hard time about it, I asked him about the computer again. He fixed it again but it still didn’t work.

Fortunately, he actually approaced me this time to see if it was working. When I told him no he asked me to bring it back to him again. He said he would fix it.

The third time was a charm. It worked this time. All was well. But now, it’s December.

My friends have a Christmas party every year. We rotate who hosts it. It was my year to host. Whoever the host is usually invites a few new people that only he/she/they know (like from their job or church). So I invited a few people from the church. One couple I invited was Josh’s brother and sister-in-law. I couldn’t decide whether or not to invite Josh or not, but finally decided to. And seriously, with the intention of just becoming friends with him. Besides, he was pretty close to my age I thought and was a member of my church.

And he came. He was actually the first person there. I was thrilled.

While at the Christmas party, my brother-in-law really takes to Josh. My sister and brother-in-law are planning a little trip out of town to check out Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile. They have a beautiful Christmas light display every year. They invite Josh and Josh says he’ll go with them.

Later my sister invites me. Of course I’m gonna go! My mother and kids come as well. And another couple (Josh’s brother and sister-in-law) are coming. So we have quite a large group. My mother volunteers to take all the kids (my sister only had two at the time and then my two) in my car and let the rest of us take her van.

While I’m helping my mother load the car up with kids my sister and her husband take the front seats to drive. Josh’s brother and his wife take the back seat. Which leaves Josh and I the middle seat.

That was the very first night we ever talked about anything besided computers! And boy did we talk. We talked about running (we’re both former runners) and schooling (he was homeschooled while I was a product of public schooling) basketball, Christmas, singing, piano playing, kids, and more. We had an hour and a half drive both ways…so we got in a lot of chatting. And it was a really nice night.

Things got interesting after that. My sister asked me to have Josh look at her computer. I now have no problem approaching him with a computer or to say hello. I’m still a bit nervous about any other conversation. And Josh really didn’t seem to be that much of a talker. But he gives me his e-mail address because of computer stuff.

The @razorskiss.net really piqued my interest. Now at this time I had never heard of a blog. So I type in razorskiss.net which brought me to Josh’s main site. I didn’t even know it was his site for the longest time. I just found his blog and thought it interesting. One day I looked at the about section and realized that the site actually belonged to Joshua and the “articles” I was reading were authored by him.

Now I was impressed. I had no idea what kind of Christian he really was, you know. I mean, I’ve known lots of people who went to church but that wouldn’t make them the kind of person you would want to go out with.

So, now I know this site belongs to Josh I suddenly am spending a lot of time reading this blog. I almost felt like I was cheating because I was getting to know this guy and he had absolutely no idea!

About a week after my discovering his blog I was getting my sister’s computer back from him after church. I have three friends that go to church with me that regualarly would go out for coffee or pizza after church. I decided to invite Josh to come with us.

Unfortunately Josh told me he would be unable to come because he had something to do at home that night but he might like to another time. I had been reading his blog and new that the deadline that week for Vox Apologia was midnight and the topic was Euthanasia. I also knew, because I was blog-stalking him, that he had not posted his yet.

So, to distract from my disappointment and to act like it was no big deal (I also started wondering if it sounded like I was asking him out….I was about to die) I casually say, “Ah, you haven’t written your Euthanasia post yet!”

I wish you could have seen the look on his face. “You’ve been on my blog?” says he with much incredulity. Then he confesses that that is indeed what he will be doing that night. So I ask him what exactly Razorskiss means and he directs me to his blog to find the answer.

Well, I couldn’t find the post where he tells about his handle so I hit the contact me button on his main page and inform him that I cannot find it. He e-mails me the link.

That night, I’m lying in bed at about ten o’clock. I hear my Yahoo messenger chime. I get up to go log-off (I always forget to log off) and realize I have a message from Razorskiss. Suddenly, I’m not so sleepy. The message reads:

Razorskiss: Boo!

That’s it. I’ve never been so excited to read something in my life! We ended up “chatting” for two hours! Then two days later we chat again for two more hours. And on Sunday, Josh joins us for coffee at Starbucks in Barnes and Noble. And the IMing continues and the Sunday night coffee trips all throught the rest of January and Feburary.

At which time the Dead Sea Scrolls come to Mobile, Ala. for a stay at The Exploreum. I am thrilled at the chance to see such old copies of The Bible. So, being the social organizer that I am I get together a group to go see these Dead Sea Scrolls. Joshua included. By fate, I really don’t think anyone planned this intentionally, everyone dropped out of our group trip except for Josh. I was rather disappointed because I really wanted to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and I was worried about it looking “planned” if Josh and I went alone.

One day when he asked about trip details I informed him that everyone else had canceled and asked if he still wanted to go or had rather reschedule. He said he really wanted to go but understood if I wanted to wait until all my friends could join. Well, I said “If you want to go let’s go.”

And we did. We took my car and headed out to Mobile. We weren’t sure where the Exploreum was so we left really early in order to give us time to search for it. But we drove right to it….and were an hour and a half early!

So we played in the Exploreum! We played with magnets and windmills and we played with pulleys and tried putting legoes together with oven mitts on, we played with gears and we looked at insects under microscopes….it was great!

And then we got to go in the showrooms with the Dead Sea Scrolls. We saw ancient pottery and some of the really old copies of Testaments from 1100, 1400 and the like. And we saw bits of the first five books of the Bible, Psalms, and others on the scrolls….it was awesome!

And then we went home. Another hour and a half drive where we talked and talked and talked…about philosphy, theology, his children, my children, school, church, music, and all. Looking back I really don’t know how we fit so much conversation into such a short amount of time!

It was a wonderful night!

Well, the following Monday, during one of our regular IM conversations we were discussing how much we like to eat at Raising Cane’s. During the conversation, Josh asks me if I would like to meet him for lunch the next day at Canes. I’m very much in a tight spot as I don’t want to say “no” and discourage him from asking me to go to lunch with him in the future but my job doesn’t allow lunch breaks. (He was homeschooled and didn’t realize I couldn’t leave for a break!) So, I ask if we can make it a late lunch, say…3:00? And that works for him.

So after I leave school that day I head for Cane’s. (I get my sister to keep the kids a bit after school . ) We order our chicken and eat….and talk for about three hours! It was great….

And several times the conversation gets….interesting. Like when we were talking about our celeb crushes from Jr. High and I confess that I had a crush on Tom Cruise then. He tells me that he has a friend who looks just like Tom Cruise but he’s not going to let me meet him. This kinda stumps me. (Maybe he is interested in me? I’m still not sure. So I just ignore the comment.)

We also begin talking about my lifelong good pal Reggie. Reggie is one of my friends that goes to church with us but I’ve known him and he’s been my best friend since third grade. Well, it is a common misconception that Reggie is my boyfriend/husband/significant other. It’s happened for years and we just laugh about it. People who know Reggie and I really well know that we aren’t soul mates just really good friends.

Well, I was telling Josh about some of our stories and he said, “Yeah, I didn’t talk to you for awhile because I thought he was your boyfriend. But I can tell your just friends now that I know you both better.”

Another stunning comment. Another I didn’t know how to answer- so I just ignored it.

So, we spend three hours at Cane’s and as we are leaving Josh asks if I want to hang out with him on Saturday. I’m wondering to myself if that counts as an ask-out but decided that technically it didn’t. But I, of course said I’d be glad to hang out over the weekend!

I then leave in a giddy, love-struck muddle and return to my home. That night Josh IM’s me. After another lenghthy IM conversation and I’m about to log off and go to bed, Josh tells me he has a confession.

I perk up. This sounded interesting! He says he had something important to ask me earlier that day and just kept putting it off….

Then he asks me out. And yes, it was over the computer! But that’s okay. It’s definately different.

I’m afraid I’m not going to go into the details of the rest of that conversation….the post is already longer that you probably wanted to read.

But…that is how it all started. That’s how it all began. And where we are now….well, yesterday we have been married for one month. So, it’s all good.

And I couldn’t be happier!