Divinely Guided - Part Two

Okay, sorry to leave you hanging. Well, actually it's kind of fun to know that I have people in suspense. I feel... so... powerful. :)

So, I found out on Halloween that Marc's dad had passed away. Then on Saturday, November 11th, Marc was in a serious car accident - he totaled his car. When I heard that his Dad died, I remember thinking that I wished we were friends already, because then I could express my sadness to him without it being totally awkward. Then, after the car accident I was determined to let him know I was thinking of him, even though I knew there wasn't any UN-awkward way about doing it. So, I figured I'd talk to him at church the next day.

Let me just add in here that at the time all of this was happening I was dating another guy. Dave* and I had been dating for a couple of months at this point. But, it's an important part of the story, because I don't want anyone out there thinking that I took advantage of Marc's fragile situation with the intention of woo-ing him into loving me. As crazy as it might sound, I just genuinely wanted to be his friend.

(*the names of some characters in this story may be changed to protect their identity)

So, anyway, Sunday came. As I was leaving the chapel, I noticed him up ahead. As I got closer, I reached out my hand to shake his hand (such a dorky RM thing to do, huh?) and said something like, "sorry about all you're going through." I knew whatever came out of my mouth had the potential of sounding insincere, so I tried to make sure he knew I meant it.

I wished I could have said or done more, but you have to remember that we're complete strangers at this point. We had never talked before. I'm pretty sure he didn't have the slightest idea who I was... and I only knew who he was because my roommate was friends with him.

So, that night my sister, Mandi (who was also one of my roommates at the time), informed me that she had signed me up to bring pizza dough to the Family Home Evening activity the following night. I agreed with one condition - that she bring me home some pizza from the activity. I worked Monday nights until 9:30pm so I never went to the FHE activities, so I had no idea that Marc and I were in the same FHE group.

The minute I got home from work Monday night, I had to have my pizza... but, Mandi had forgotten to bring me home some. It turned out that the leftover pizza was at Marc's apartment, so off we went to get me some pizza.

Marc and his roommates were sitting around the kitchen hanging out. Marc had mentioned that he was still really sore from the accident... and I was thinking that since I was interested in massage therapy that that was the same as being able to give a good massage. So, I offered to help loosen up his shoulders. After a few seconds, I noticed Mandi was wincing simply by reflecting the strained look on Marc's face. So, um, yeah, I was apparently too rough on him... and successfully embarrassed myself.

We didn't stay for much longer after that. On the way out the door, though, I asked Marc if he needed rides to school, since his car had been totaled. He said that his roommate was taking him. So, I told him that if it turned out that he needed a ride for some reason, that I went up to campus at 7:30am and came back around 3:30pm. Then, he said, "okay, tomorrow morning sounds good." I was surprised that he accepted so suddenly, but happy that I was going to be able to get to know him better.

The next morning came and I picked him up. It's true that I was still dating Dave at this point... but, when Marc came out of the his apartment wearing a blue, long-sleeved, buttoned shirt with navy cords, I thought, "wow, he dresses nice." Okay, lame, I know, but it was just an observation. Another thing I observed was that he wore some really nice-smelling cologne.

So, we drove to campus and then had about a 15 minute walk still. So, we talked. Well, the way I remember it was that I talked. He asked me so many questions that by the end he knew tons about me, and I still knew very little about him. He was so thoughtful and interested in finding out about me... but, it made me even more intrigued. I wanted to know him... I wanted to get into his mind and find out what he was thinking. There was so much bottled in, I could just tell.

By the end of that first 15 minute walk from the parking lot to campus, I had pieced together small bits of information to figure out that he was probably about my same age. So, I asked him directly, "when's your birthday?"

"May 12," he said. "1978."

I couldn't believe it. "That's my birthday, too!"

We looked at each other with total shock. Born on exactly the same day. Marc told me later that he couldn't stop thinking about me that day and how cool it was to find out we shared the same birthday.

It was five days later that Dave broke up with me. I was devastated. Until I had an awakening... and recognized that the connection I had with Marc after one week was more than I had had with Dave after two months. That was Monday. The "real" beginning of our relationship.

(oooh, how do you like that cliff-hanger?)