The Story of Us (Part 3)

(Part 1)
(Part 2)

So, by this point I had a grand plan taking place in my mind concerning Tricia and I...we'd fall quickly and madly in love, get married, start a family, etc. etc.

OK, actually, not really. My plan basically consisted of figuring out a way to help Tricia see that I was the man of her dreams...and honestly, at this point, I had no idea how that was going to happen.

You see, although I was already crazy for Tricia, I'm pretty sure that she was still having problems remembering my name. For the next few weeks, I only saw Tricia during church functions. I didn't have the nerve yet to ask if she'd like for me to take her out sometime, and she was still getting used to the idea of having moved to a totally foreign place (NJ is like another world compared to the OBX) and was dealing with (as I found out later) a lot of the emotions that come with leaving friends and family and just about everything she'd ever known as "home".

I can especially remember two occasions during those few weeks:

> The first was an evening (the same week as Pizza Hut) when the Kirschner family showed up to play beach volleyball with a few families from church. When she's healthy, Tricia is incredibly athletic.

> The second was a big church picnic. Tricia and lots of food...enough said.

Both times left me feeling more and more like she was absolutely the girl for me.

But, within a few weeks I was off to school in Wake Forest (about 4 hours away at the time). The church decided to keep me on as their worship leader and pay me some gas money to travel back and forth on the weekends, which I was more than happy to do. The Kirschners were getting pretty comfortable with our church, and one of the highlights (I say "one" just so I can appear, at least, to give you the impression that I also looked forward to church and other spiritual stuffs like that...which I did...to some extent...) was knowing that I'd get to see Tricia, if not spend a little more time getting to know her.

I can specifically remember one weekend in Sept. when she was out of town...if I need to describe my disappointment that weekend, maybe you should go back to the beginning of this blog and spend a few hours catching up...

At some point within those first few weeks of school, I told my roommates about Tricia (I wasn't nearly as open about mushy stuff back then) and that I was certain that she was "the one". (so, if anyone doubts that I truly did believe that from the beginning, you can ask them)

Finally, one Thursday evening, I worked up enough nerve to give her a call and ask her if she'd like to "hang out" that Saturday evening while I was at home. She said "OK".

I nearly passed out...seriously...I'm not joking...I can remember having so sit down (I like to walk around when I'm on the phone...I don't spend much time on the phone, which is maybe why I'm overweight) because I was slightly light-headed and my knees were not doing a good job of supporting the rest of me.

The drive home that Friday afternoon was the longest ever...I can remember rolling down my windows, turning up my music and thinking what an incredibly beautiful day it was.

Nate