Seventeen years ago this week, I was falling in love. And I was thirteen. People would tell me I was young and naive, that it wasn't really love, and more... and to be honest, I started to believe them. Not that what I was feeling wasn't genuine - because I never doubted that - but that maybe with time and age I would realize that it was more infatuation than actual love. That maybe it felt more intense because I had never experienced it before.
It was the weekend before Martin Luther King Day and my sister, Amanda - who was fifteen at the time, and I went on a ski trip with a church in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how many of us there were, but there were at least twenty of us in middle school and high school going on the ski trip - both guys and girls. My best friend, Christine, was going too and I was super excited to have a fun weekend away with her. Peyton & Damen were going and that meant Tony was going, too. (Because back in those days they went just about everywhere together.) There were two vans to take the group of us from Memphis to Gatlinburg... my sister went into one with a bunch of the kids her age and I went into the other with my friends. Tony hadn't decided which one he was riding in and I was just PRAYING he would hop into mine. I remember one of the older girls telling Tony he should get in their van and I just remember feeling crushed. I don't know what exactly made him decide to get into the van I was in... but for WHATEVER reason we ended up in the same van I am so extremely thankful! It was on that trip in that moment that we got to know each other a little more, we became better friends, and made some fun memories. It was on that trip that I truly started falling in love with Tony. And what took place over that long weekend are things I'll never forget.
I think about one particular moment often - what if he would've chosen the other van? Would he have made those memories with someone else? And where would we be now? This story could've been one between him and someone else.
So, I thank God for Martin Luther King and everything he did to advance the lives of all humankind. The sacrifices he made and the extremely difficult, intensely beautiful journey he took. While that will always be the focus of the day for me, I can't help but remember how the long weekend holds a secret, special place in my heart and how it always will. And thank God for falling in young love.
It was the weekend before Martin Luther King Day and my sister, Amanda - who was fifteen at the time, and I went on a ski trip with a church in our neighborhood. I'm not sure how many of us there were, but there were at least twenty of us in middle school and high school going on the ski trip - both guys and girls. My best friend, Christine, was going too and I was super excited to have a fun weekend away with her. Peyton & Damen were going and that meant Tony was going, too. (Because back in those days they went just about everywhere together.) There were two vans to take the group of us from Memphis to Gatlinburg... my sister went into one with a bunch of the kids her age and I went into the other with my friends. Tony hadn't decided which one he was riding in and I was just PRAYING he would hop into mine. I remember one of the older girls telling Tony he should get in their van and I just remember feeling crushed. I don't know what exactly made him decide to get into the van I was in... but for WHATEVER reason we ended up in the same van I am so extremely thankful! It was on that trip in that moment that we got to know each other a little more, we became better friends, and made some fun memories. It was on that trip that I truly started falling in love with Tony. And what took place over that long weekend are things I'll never forget.
I think about one particular moment often - what if he would've chosen the other van? Would he have made those memories with someone else? And where would we be now? This story could've been one between him and someone else.
So, I thank God for Martin Luther King and everything he did to advance the lives of all humankind. The sacrifices he made and the extremely difficult, intensely beautiful journey he took. While that will always be the focus of the day for me, I can't help but remember how the long weekend holds a secret, special place in my heart and how it always will. And thank God for falling in young love.
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