After our first face to face meeting our nerves settled and we were finally off onto our first, official date. Knowing that all the kids were taken care of until the evening we headed off down the coast to Carmel, with the whole day ahead of us. During the long drive to our first stop there was no lack of conversation and laughs. I knew he had planned a day and evening in Carmel, but I didn’t know where we were going exactly. Since I love surprises it was both exciting and scary. I remember thinking maybe I should have put a tracker on my phone just in case this guy ended up being crazy.
Turned out that both of us ended up being pretty crazy that day….crazy for each other.
Our first stop was beautiful Mission Ranch. A place that David didn’t even know I had always wanted to visit. We had a delicious brunch and walked around the gorgeous property. While walking the property we saw the staff setting up outside for a wedding. We both talked about how this would be a beautiful location to have a wedding and in my head I was thinking…maybe even our wedding someday. Sounds crazy to have those thoughts on a first date, but I knew. If any of my girlfriends were to tell me they wanted to marry the guy they went on one date with I would think they were nuts.
Next stop was wine tasting through Carmel Valley. Again, never a lull in conversation. It was amazing how comfortable I felt with him, like we had always been together. He made me smile. I mean a genuinely happy smile that hadn’t been seen on my face for a very long time. I didn’t want the day to end.
We parked ourselves at the last winery and sat, talked and sipped our wine until it was time for our dinner reservation. Of course, another beautiful location, Rocky Point, on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We sat outside to eat, enjoyed the gorgeous sunset, delicious food and each other. He definitely pulled out all the stops for this first date and I loved every second of it. It felt good to be pampered again, to be taken care of, to feel safe and loved. At times I had to push the negative thoughts out of my mind that would begin to creep in. The thoughts that made me feel like I was doing something wrong even when I knew I wasn’t.
Eventually, it was time to head back home to my boys but we took advantage of every second together with more conversation, laughs and getting to know even more about each other as we drove back to that little parking lot where my car was parked. We planned when we could see each other again. My heart was bursting, the butterflies never left my tummy and I was smiling from ear to ear. There was just something about this man that I knew was different. I knew I loved him on that very first date, which again, is just nuts. I knew he was the one. I knew God and Mike had sent him to me.
It wasn’t long after I got home that my phone rang. He was home too and we talked late into the night as we always did. What was next? We had so many hurdles to jump if this was going to work out. Only God could get us over each one.
We talked about how we could make this work…when do we tell our kids, how do we fit dating into our schedules….each obstacle had to be worked through carefully since this relationship wasn’t just about us, but had our children involved as well. Each obstacle definitely came with a challenge but we knew it would be worth it.
Thank you for re-living our story with us! We pray that this story will inspire and give hope to others. We look forward to sharing more about each challenge, blessing and the amazing ways that God wrote our last chapter!
