Our Love Story: Part I

Our love story is a long one with whispers, pushes and all out kicks in the butt from God the whole way through.

While I do think that God was working in our lives preparing us for each other before we even met, it wasn't until years after we first met that we even gave each other a second glance.

Jetty and I attended the same high school, had many of the same friends and yet I don't think we really spoke until just before our grade 12 (senior) year. I say that I "don't think" we did because neither of us remembers! My only early memory of Jetty was asking one of his good friends in biology class why he was so quiet and never said hi to my friend and I when we would all chat in class. Needless to say it was not love at first sight, or even in high school terms "crush at first sight".

Jetty and I went about our high school lives never knowing much about the other until two of our best friends dated. Throughout the summer before our grade 12 year I think we both took some time playing third wheel to the two of them until one day they decided to introduce us. I remember feeling like I was meeting him for the first time. He was much taller than I remembered and when did he get so cute? I honestly don't remember much from the very first times we hung out, I don't know if I had a crush right away or if getting to know him made me start to see him differently. Either way, within a few short weeks I had a major crush on this boy that I had walked by in the halls so many times before. 

While I don't have a lot of memories from those first times hanging out, I do have a few really distinct ones. I can close my eyes and put myself back in the moments and while I don't remember all the details I remember the feeling of being in those moments. One was our very first kiss. We were walking around with our friends on the beach at Lake Ontario. At the end of a long pier was a lighthouse. It was a warm night and Jetty and I decided to walk out to the lighthouse. I think our friends stayed behind hoping we would kiss or laughing about it, or whatever high school kids do. We stood out there looking at the water for a while and talking. Then...he kissed me... it was filled with all the wonderful awkwardness of the perfect first kiss. 

The rest of that summer was a blur of fun while the four of us spent so much of our time together. I remember bowling and his perfect hugs and laughing hysterically about an inside joke with my best friend in the backseat of his parent's Safari van while the boys were in the front seats. 

Pretty much how I remember the boy I first met... driving that van.

I even remember a movie date where a big group of us went and my biggest high school crush was there. The one my attention was always focused on when we hung out. With Jetty by my side though I didn't even really think of the other boy. I was smitten.

Everything was perfect and I didn't really think about the fact that very shortly we would be back at school. Summer would be over and so would this summer fling...