This Valentine o' Mine

From the day I noticed the creature known as 'boy', I made it a personal goal to capture one. If that sounds more like a science experiment than healthy human courtship, I have achieved an accurate description. Not just any boy would do, either...he had to be the most sought after boy...preferably tall and sandy-haired and really fast and super tricksie with his footskills. Foster Elementary ladies, I am sure you recall our long kindergarten and first grade recesses spent chasing behind Nate Guthrie (very fast...super tricksie footskills). I would whip any girl's tail to catch that boy before she did...and I wasn't afraid to lie in wait behind the jungle gym just to put my foot out in front of a chick stampede to trip the first one in the mass and claim Mr. Guthrie as mine. In those days, I never thought about what I would actually 'do' with the boy after I caught him...it was beating all the other girls out for the prize that lured me into countless recesses of chasing.

Many years later, as I entered into the high school dating scene, I adopted similarly stupid tactics for man-hunting. I'd look around for the cutest thing a girl could find, crush insatiably, somehow put the word out that I was interested...and presto...that boy would be chased and captured. Same thing in college -- look for cute boy, find one, send vibe, ignore all red flags, chase, CAPTURE. Same thing in law school -- look for cute boy, find one, ignore all red flags, send vibe, really ignore all red flags, chase, CAPTURE. There was only one man I once knew that didn't fall victim to this doomed-to-fail plan....but he sort of snuck in via the friend door...and the end wasn't pretty there either.

When I met my hubs-to-be, I was in the process of figuring things out. I wasn't looking for the cutest boy on the block (even though he certainly was that)...in fact, I wasn't on the market for a man at all. I was studying for the bar exam. I was more stressed out than I had ever been any time in my life before or since. I was smack dab in the middle of that horrible transition between school and the real world, and the last thing on my mind was man-hunting. But, isn't that the way the story always goes...
In the summer of 2006, Jared turned the tables on me. In the 22 years prior (I'm takin' it all the way back to the playground, y'all), I had only ever done it MY way. There had never been a man that surprised me...I always saw him first, always sent the vibe first, always chased him first, always felt like I had done the capturing, you get the idea. Then, in June of 2006, Jared did it all first. Without my usual prompting or even giving over my phone number or any sign or signal from me whatsoever, Jared asked around about me...he texted...then he wrote...then he called. He engaged me in countless conversations about literature...about religion...about big ideas...about dreams...about worldly things that interested him (and me...but I was playing too close to the vest to let him know that yet).

On our first date, I asked him what his intentions were. His reply -- "to pursue you." My response - "yeah, but to what end? We live a million miles apart...so, I'm not up for pursuit unless you're serious." His immediate answer - "to marriage...or to the point we realize that's not where we're headed." In stunned silence, I let that sink in....mmmmm, yeah, I liked the sound of that.
The rest is, as they say, history. He pursued and pursued and pursued and the next thing we knew, we were walking out of the back of a church with the same last name. And he didn't stop there. In fact, he is still doing it. He asks the meaningful questions, engages my mind, finds the humor in my quirks (and there are sooo many), and most precious to me, he gives his love to me freely.

He chased.

He captured.
And, lucky for me, he happens to be tall, blonde, and have reeeeeeally good footskills.

Happy Valentine's Day, hubs...you're the best Valentine a girl could ever hope for. xoxoxoxoxoxo!!