4 months. We were getting married in 4 months. We would be separated for most of it...but being engaged with distance is totally different than dating with distance, right? Ha!
I went back home to Pennsylvania and he went back home to Georgia to both work and prepare. After only a month we couldn't handle the separation, (I was like, in the depths of despair without him) so I made the big move down to Georgia to work until right before the wedding when I would go back home and finish the wedding details. I lived with a family who were long time friends of his for the rest of the summer.
That summer was mostly hard.
We hit some major road bumps.
It was not always blissful.
I didn't understand it. We were engaged. Shouldn't this be the easy road from now on? Sheesh. Wake up call, for sure. I actually wrote in my journal: "Note to self: Tell children to have a long courtship and then elope! Long engagements are bad news." And seriously... 4 months was LONG.
Concerned about the rockiness we were encountering we decided to consult with a family friend (in a high church position) whom Rowdy admired and appreciated advice from. We expected a spiritual conversation, but what we got instead was the complete opposite. I had never met this man before, and suddenly he was telling us that maybe we should wait. Maybe we were not thinking ahead. Maybe it wasn't meant to be.
I was in shock. Rowdy was in shock. We both left in shock.
As he dropped me off that night we both agreed to fast and pray about it again.
I wept and went to my knees in prayer. And what happened next is too sacred for me to share. But suffice it to say I was no longer confused.
Our life together would be beautiful. I knew it. And I would never doubt the answer that I received that night.
I was going to be Mrs. Rowdy Stroud.
I had become a master at baton twirling, afterall.
to be continued...
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3 comments:
We were engaged for one month. I agree with the long dating, short engagement thing. :)
Oh nuts.
I think our first speed bump came while we were engaged too.
We were engaged 6.5 weeks. I was in Utah planning a wedding for Florida.
I agree short engagements are best mostly because once the commitment is made to go to the temple, Satan tries his darndest to mess it up. The less time we give him to succeed, the better!
I am with you about engagements. Terrible, awful, nasty things. My wife and I had the same experience. We were so in love until we got engaged--then we bickered and fought and so on. We ended up moving our date up significantly. Not sure my MIL has ever forgiven us, but it had to happen.
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