The letters continued, and we talked briefly on the phone at least once or twice.
We didn’t talk about anything too deep; but he did mention that maybe sometime when I made a trip to my sister’s, we could meet each other in person. Just the thought of that produced major butterflies in my stomach. I kept thinking that he didn’t have any idea what my life was like. I wasn’t sure he even knew I had boys or had been married. My sister didn’t know much about him either, just that he was a Christian and was in business with his brother. He knew I was in nursing school and that was about it, I thought. I didn’t know for sure if he knew I was divorced with kids. We had shared only one, possibly two 5-10 min conversations and a couple of letters that were “short and sweet.”
He did mention a couple times that he wanted to meet me, so I began to think of my next trip to my sister’s. After receiving my first letter from him on September 1, I soon had plans to go to Broken Arrow for the weekend of the 15th.
Wow, was I ever extremely excited and extremely nervous . He hadn’t asked me for a date just that he wanted to meet me. Pam and I were not sure how that would happen. Coincidentally, it was the weekend of the annual garage sale in her neighborhood, so we thought well that’s at least an excuse to walk down the street and see if he was in his yard or something, haha!
I let him know I was coming into town after my Friday nursing classes. I arrived Friday evening around six.
I sat around talking with Pam and waited, wondering if he would call or not, wondering if he had Pam’s number. After all he had never really met her either. Nine oclock came, and I was beginning to think he might be reconsidering. Trying not to get disappointed I refused to think about it, assuming the attitude: “If he doesn’t, he doesn’t; it’s no biggie.” All the things I was saying in my head jolted back to reality as I heard the phone ring. Could it be? Yes it was, and with my heart in my throat I took the phone from my sister and said, “Hello.” It was a brief conversation, about 2 minutes: “How was your trip,” and that sort of thing; and then he said, “Would you like to go out tomorrow night to a movie and maybe dinner?” I tried to sound calm and cool, which I was anything but! I mean after all, I thought he would ask to come down and meet me first before he asked for a date. Now there was more pressure/excitement on that first meeting. I agreed on a time to be picked up, not sure I took a breath between that and saying goodbye. He had already taken my breath away 🙂
I had just scheduled a blind date. If you want to add some stress to dating for the first time after all I had been through, then make it a blind date. The excitement was almost too much. Pam was a bit anxious, too, and said, “Well, tomorrow we will still walk down the street and see if we can spot him just to make sure he’s really cute and it wasn’t just a good picture.” (haha) A sure sign of my insecurity returning a little, I wanted to make sure he saw me in person before the date in case he might want to change his mind. I still had things to work out in myself, so it didn’t take much to bring up the weak areas and scars in my self confidence leftover from divorce.
The next day Pam and I walked down the street, pretending to shop for bargains. I mean we couldn’t just walk straight down by his house; that would be too obvious!
We stopped at his brother and sister n law’s house (my sister’s friend that was helping with this setup). They lived next door to him and were in business together with him. I met them both as they were putting a few things out to sell. Neighborhood garage sales were a big thing in Oklahoma back then with people out walking everywhere; so Pam and I were blending into the crowd. The next few minutes are still a blur, I heard something like, ” Well there he is now. Let’s walk over there and I’ll introduce you.” The next thing I know I’m walking; but I’m not sure I could even feel my feet move, almost a slow motion feeling. Then I look up as I hear the introduction and catch his eye. Wow, I thought to myself…..his picture didn’t do him justice; he was so handsome, tall, fit, and such kind eyes. When he smiled at me, I felt my face flush and I managed to choke out the words, “Nice to meet you.” I returned his smile, then we quickly made up some excuse how we needed to get back to Pam’s house. It was a bit unnerving for all I think, ha. We said our “Nice to meet you.” As we turned to walk away, I heard him say, “I’ll see you tonight, Quita.” Again, I could hardly get my voice to work as I said, “Yes, I look forward to it.”
The rest of the day was spent picking out an outfit to wear, going back over every detail of the “meeting”, how cute he was, how tall he was (don’t underestimate how important that was to me Haha). In my mind, I guessed he liked what he saw since he didn’t find a reason to cancel the date 🙂
I felt like a young teenage girl, spending way too much time getting ready for this date. It had been over 8 years since I had dated, so I wasn’t sure I knew “how” to date. In the mean time, my sister began to freak out a little because she realized she didn’t know that much about him, just what her friend Gail had told her. She had no reason to doubt her, but I think the thought of setting me up and the chance I would be hurt again, panicked her a bit.
She had as much fun as I did though with the excitement and waiting for 7:00 pm to get there. The closer it got the more I was sure I was not going to be able to stop shaking. To this day that’s the most nervous (good nervous) I’ve ever been.
The next thing I know he’s at the door and I’m in that blurry slow motion thing again that giddiness brings on. He looked so handsome as I opened the door, and was greeted by his smile. I realized for the first time he had dimples, and then of course my eyes were drawn to his kind eyes which were a perfect blend between brown and green. He whisked me down the drive way to his car , a very nice red 300z. He opened my door, and as I got in I was overcome with a calm. This was a night I would never forget and neither would Mike.
We talked like old friends that night, laughed, not too many awkward silences. He asked about my boys and I was relieved he knew about them. We talked about his business, his family. He was on the quiet reserved side, not shy in the least, just very good at listening. He seemed interested in every thing I said, and those beautiful eyes of his were always intent and soaking up the details. We went to a restaurant first (Charley Mitchell’s), then a movie, then a walk around the 21st river bridge/pier area. He took my hand and I felt my heart skip a few beats. Though it was a very long time since I had felt that type of touch, it felt very comfortable, very right. I could tell Mike was different than anyone I had ever met. I sensed he had a lot of self confidence, but not a trace of arrogance. His intelligence was obvious to me; his honesty was very noticeable. He was not comfortable talking too much about himself, but he listened intently to every word I spoke.
The night ended fairly early,around 10:30. He walked me to the door where we said goodbye. I walked into my sisters house to be greeted by her excitement and need for details.
I don’t think I slept much at all that night, or the next few. I replayed every moment of the date in my mind, thought of everything he said, how I could tell he loved God the way that I did. He was unlike anyone I had ever known; could it be a dream?
All I know is I had not smiled like that in a very, very long time. My steps were lighter, the sun was brighter, I felt like I had just tried on the Cinderella slipper and it had fit. My heart battled some between my hopes and dreams, and the fears and insecurities; but most of the time the hopes and dreams won. I had no idea how well the slipper would fit or the brightness of my future.
Looking back on that night I realize how God started something special in both of us. I know He must have smiled from heaven and said, “Now that’s what I’ve been waiting for.” His Plan B had been put into play.
I fell asleep that night feeling like Cinderella. I had truly been treated like a princess. I felt beautiful, I felt interesting, and I knew I wanted to get to know this mystery man more.
My heart was light and happy, the scars from divorce barely noticeable against the light of hope, the brightness of joy, the reflection of true inner peace.
Isaiah 61:3
Joy and gladness instead of grief,
A song of praise instead of sorrow.
They will be like trees
That the Lord himself has planted.
They will all do what is right,
And God will be praised for what he has done.
Simply Quita 