Levi and I married each other in June of 2012 after only six months of
head-over-heels, foolish-about-each-other love. Our story, like every love
story, has its own unique and sweet moments and timings. We continue to marvel
at the way God orchestrated our lives to bring us together, and though it
included pain and trials for both of us, we wouldn't change anything about it.
Everything that happened and every way that we grew led us to this moment.
Here begins Chapter 2 of Letters, Lightsabers, and Love, in which I first begin communicating with my love through eHarmony's Guided Communication process and the first semester of the school year finally ends...
-
Chapter 2: Baby Steps
As soon as I clicked send I forgot about Levi's profile, strangely enough. I went through the rest of the matches from my time away from eHarmony and closed them all out. Then I turned to the mountain of grading that was awaiting me.... the end of the semester was near. Just one more week.
School on Monday was pretty normal for me. There was a slight chance that we'd have a blizzard at the end of the week, so the kids were a little hyper, but otherwise things were normal. My junior high students were sweet to me and excited for break, my sophomores were sarcastic and entertaining, and the seniors were grumbling because I was continuing to push them through the end of Hamlet.
It was a tiring day, and things at school weren't wonderful. I was still in the process of ensuring my private difficulties didn't bleed into my professional life, so occasional quips and nastiness from students would make me tear up. I hate to admit that's a normal occurrence.
It was starting to get cold and nippy outside, so rushing home after school was first on my list. Then it was time to haul out my giant suitcase from the closet and plan my Christmas Break packing. As I pulled out leggings and jeans and sweaters and placed them in order on my bed the tension and fuzz from the day finally began to melt from my brain.
As I was pulling together my vacation wardrobe and realizing that it consisted of primarily grey, black, and purple items (my favorite colors to wear), I realized that it might be a good time to check on eHarmony. I needed to close out today's matches anyway.
When I opened it up I was greeted with a surprise. That guy, Levi, from Minnesota, had already replied to my multiple choice questions. I clicked on the link and was greeted with an even bigger surprise. Instead of answering with the standard answers, he'd written in his own answers to the five questions.
As I surveyed the answers, I found myself encouraged. His answers grooved with the kind of person I'd like to spend time with. I wrote in my own answers to the five questions he'd sent me, and then I sent them back to him. It was then time for me to send him my list of 10 Must-Haves and 10 Can't-Stands. That part of Guided Communication isn't the most interesting, but it's part of the process. I finished my packing encouraged, but not dwelling on anything, and went to sleep.
School the next day was much the same as Monday, and I returned home to do more packing and ready my house to be empty for two straight weeks. I casually checked eHarmony again, and to my surprise another message awaited me. Again, from Levi. Now, he'd sent me his list of 10 Must-Haves and 10 Can't-Stands. I was already locked into the Communication process with Levi, but it was nice to have his answers. The next step was sending him open-ended questions.
I sat and pondered for about an hour. I wanted to learn about his faith, his work, and the way he spent his time, so I tried to word the questions as sweetly and specifically as possible. I sent them away, and awaited his response.
Wednesday arrives. School happens. I check eHarmony at home, not really expecting answers since open-ended questions can be more difficult to answer. Boy was I wrong! Answers back already and questions waiting for me. And the most encouraging thing? He'd filled out the question answer spaces with the maximum number of words! He'd put enough thought into his answers to tell me a lot of things about himself.
I finally started to get a little goosebumpy. That's a technical term, by the way. Goosebumpy.
Now it was up to me to start our e-mailing process. I knew that I'd initiated things with Levi from the start, but I didn't want him to think that I wanted to steer the process of getting to know each other. I wanted to let him know that I wanted him to lead things...and if that wasn't something he wanted, then that'd let me know quickly that he wasn't the right man for me.
I sent him a quick message by e-mail letting him know that I had thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him thus far, and I was interested in knowing more. I told him that I hoped he'd write back to me soon.
When I sent it off, that was it. I wouldn't be able to contact him or see any communication with him until he decided to write me back. Then that would officially open up communication between us. That's just the way eHarmony works.
When I got home from school on Thursday there was no word from Levi. I was a little disappointed, but I knew a real e-mail might take some time to compose. School was cancelled on Friday, much to the delight of everyone in town, so I had ample opportunity to pull together my luggage and my home for my trip. ...And to constantly check eHarmony for a reply from Levi.
No such luck.
I managed to make it to the train station thanks to a ride from a friend (which was extra nice considering the impending blizzard) and spent the night in the depot waiting for my ride to Kansas City.
By the time I made it to KC, exhausted and smelly and cranky, I'd put away talking to Levi. Perhaps he'd decided that I wasn't someone he wanted to continue getting to know, or perhaps he was simply too busy to e-mail me.
Either way, it was now time for me to spend my time at home, healing and decompressing.
-
The next chapter will let you know how the healing went (hint, I'm all better now, so I'm betting you already know how that went) and whether Levi ended up writing back or not (considering I married him, you can guess that he did write back eventually!).
Next Chapter (Chapter 3: The Week that Made the Difference) Previous Chapter (Chapter 1: Signing Up)
Everything that happened and every way that we grew led us to this moment.
Here begins Chapter 2 of Letters, Lightsabers, and Love, in which I first begin communicating with my love through eHarmony's Guided Communication process and the first semester of the school year finally ends...
-
Chapter 2: Baby Steps
As soon as I clicked send I forgot about Levi's profile, strangely enough. I went through the rest of the matches from my time away from eHarmony and closed them all out. Then I turned to the mountain of grading that was awaiting me.... the end of the semester was near. Just one more week.
School on Monday was pretty normal for me. There was a slight chance that we'd have a blizzard at the end of the week, so the kids were a little hyper, but otherwise things were normal. My junior high students were sweet to me and excited for break, my sophomores were sarcastic and entertaining, and the seniors were grumbling because I was continuing to push them through the end of Hamlet.
It was a tiring day, and things at school weren't wonderful. I was still in the process of ensuring my private difficulties didn't bleed into my professional life, so occasional quips and nastiness from students would make me tear up. I hate to admit that's a normal occurrence.
It was starting to get cold and nippy outside, so rushing home after school was first on my list. Then it was time to haul out my giant suitcase from the closet and plan my Christmas Break packing. As I pulled out leggings and jeans and sweaters and placed them in order on my bed the tension and fuzz from the day finally began to melt from my brain.
As I was pulling together my vacation wardrobe and realizing that it consisted of primarily grey, black, and purple items (my favorite colors to wear), I realized that it might be a good time to check on eHarmony. I needed to close out today's matches anyway.
When I opened it up I was greeted with a surprise. That guy, Levi, from Minnesota, had already replied to my multiple choice questions. I clicked on the link and was greeted with an even bigger surprise. Instead of answering with the standard answers, he'd written in his own answers to the five questions.
As I surveyed the answers, I found myself encouraged. His answers grooved with the kind of person I'd like to spend time with. I wrote in my own answers to the five questions he'd sent me, and then I sent them back to him. It was then time for me to send him my list of 10 Must-Haves and 10 Can't-Stands. That part of Guided Communication isn't the most interesting, but it's part of the process. I finished my packing encouraged, but not dwelling on anything, and went to sleep.
School the next day was much the same as Monday, and I returned home to do more packing and ready my house to be empty for two straight weeks. I casually checked eHarmony again, and to my surprise another message awaited me. Again, from Levi. Now, he'd sent me his list of 10 Must-Haves and 10 Can't-Stands. I was already locked into the Communication process with Levi, but it was nice to have his answers. The next step was sending him open-ended questions.
I sat and pondered for about an hour. I wanted to learn about his faith, his work, and the way he spent his time, so I tried to word the questions as sweetly and specifically as possible. I sent them away, and awaited his response.
Wednesday arrives. School happens. I check eHarmony at home, not really expecting answers since open-ended questions can be more difficult to answer. Boy was I wrong! Answers back already and questions waiting for me. And the most encouraging thing? He'd filled out the question answer spaces with the maximum number of words! He'd put enough thought into his answers to tell me a lot of things about himself.
I finally started to get a little goosebumpy. That's a technical term, by the way. Goosebumpy.
Now it was up to me to start our e-mailing process. I knew that I'd initiated things with Levi from the start, but I didn't want him to think that I wanted to steer the process of getting to know each other. I wanted to let him know that I wanted him to lead things...and if that wasn't something he wanted, then that'd let me know quickly that he wasn't the right man for me.
I sent him a quick message by e-mail letting him know that I had thoroughly enjoyed getting to know him thus far, and I was interested in knowing more. I told him that I hoped he'd write back to me soon.
When I sent it off, that was it. I wouldn't be able to contact him or see any communication with him until he decided to write me back. Then that would officially open up communication between us. That's just the way eHarmony works.
When I got home from school on Thursday there was no word from Levi. I was a little disappointed, but I knew a real e-mail might take some time to compose. School was cancelled on Friday, much to the delight of everyone in town, so I had ample opportunity to pull together my luggage and my home for my trip. ...And to constantly check eHarmony for a reply from Levi.
No such luck.
I managed to make it to the train station thanks to a ride from a friend (which was extra nice considering the impending blizzard) and spent the night in the depot waiting for my ride to Kansas City.
By the time I made it to KC, exhausted and smelly and cranky, I'd put away talking to Levi. Perhaps he'd decided that I wasn't someone he wanted to continue getting to know, or perhaps he was simply too busy to e-mail me.
Either way, it was now time for me to spend my time at home, healing and decompressing.
-
The next chapter will let you know how the healing went (hint, I'm all better now, so I'm betting you already know how that went) and whether Levi ended up writing back or not (considering I married him, you can guess that he did write back eventually!).
Next Chapter (Chapter 3: The Week that Made the Difference) Previous Chapter (Chapter 1: Signing Up)
Love reading about your story in such depth! Love you!
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