Everything in the past week had been so fast and so miraculous, I just knew that God had something special for that weekend. He did. He had a chocolate chip cookie and the beginning of what would be a year of goodbyes.
"So what did he say?" Keila anxiously asked as I arrived at my parents. (I actually have no idea what happened to Kris that day...I was a little preoccupied.)
"He didn't show." I don't know why I like to joke like this...no one ever laughs, and neither did Keila, she just stared at me.
"Uhh..." I quickly recovered, "Just kidding! He was there. It went great! He told me to write your parents, and to plan an opportunity to meet them, and that we can't write or talk on the phone until March 1, and then we will only be able to pursue courtship if your parents approve."
I took a breath.
She took a breath.
We stared at each other for a moment.
"That's it?" Keila inquired.
"In a nutshell." I have found over the years that I can condense hour long conversations to a descriptive one sentence explanation. This wouldn't suffice.
Keila and I sat in my parents house and relived the entire conversation I had had with Pastor Rick. That whole weekend consisted of talking. There was so much that we didn't know about each other, and it was wonderful to walk into a world where someone was so genuinely interested in your life.
Sunday came very quickly. We had a party on Sunday for my neice, and it was also the day that Keila was going to head back to her home away from home in upstate New York. It was a day where I learned two incredible things, one about Keila, and another about life.
There was a lot of family there at my neice's birthday party: my sister's family, my brother's family, my mom and dad, my sister, me, and, of course, Keila. I was sitting in the living room when it happened. My brother, my bro-in-law, and I were watching football when the first scent of chocolate chip cookies reached my nose. My sister cooks great cookies, and I couldn't wait to head out to the kitchen to get some. And then Keila walked in to the living room. With some chocolate chip cookies in her hand!
My heart started beating as she carried them my way.
"Do you want a cookie?" She asked holding her cookie offering my way.
"You bet I do." That was the best chocolate chip cookie I ever had. My bro-in-law was extremely jealous...you could see him vent with envy.
"Hey, honey!" He cackled into the kitchen, (he really has a special way about him) "bring me a cookie!!"
Everyone was silent as we anticipated my sister's reaction.
It didn't take long.
"Get it yourself!" I smiled at him as I slowly ate the melting chocolate chip cookie. Now, I do believe my sister did eventually bring him a cookie, but it had to have been cold by that time. Classic.
Anyhow, I learned a valuable lesson from Keila that day. She was not only interested in me...she was beginning to, dare I say, care for me. I am so very blessed by her. Day after day, month after month, year after year, she continues to outdo herself in demonstrating her care for me.
Though I immensely enjoyed that chocolate chip cookie, I knew that the inevitable moment was coming where I would have to say goodbye...which is where I learned the invaluable lesson about life.
"I hate the fact you have to leave!" I expressed my heart a little while before her departure.
"I know." She calmly spoke from across the table.
"I just feel like I'm just getting to know you, and now we have to say goodbye."
"I know." She is so much stronger than me.
"I hate goodbyes!" I quoted a line from Dumb and Dumber, and I even did the Jim Carrey voice.
She didn't get the joke.
She was ready to say something that would stick with me forever, "In order for better days to come, these days have to end. We have to say these goodbyes so we can say hello to our future."
These words became a regular statement for us. I thought this goodbye was the hardest I had ever experienced. Boy, was I wrong. The next year would hold increasingly difficult times, but for both of us, we knew, that if tomorrow was to come on time, we had to say goodbye today.
So away she went. We said our goodbyes. (For those interested, I shook her hand goodbye...real suave like.) And she drove away.
I would see her again in two weeks, and it was the longest two weeks of my life.
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