Officially unsingle
Last weekend, a couple of friends came to visit me in Launceston. One of these was Dave. During one of our sight seeing expeditions, Dave met this lovely lady at Grindelwald . . .
However, he decided that she was a bit unresponsive and aloof. Beautiful, but rather unmoved. So Dave decided that perhaps he did like me better than all other women after all . . .
Well, that is not quite how it happened but the full story is too mushy to repeat right now. I just might tell you later.
I am happy that Dave has told me how he feels about me, so I could tell him how I feel about him, so we can both feel happy that we feel the same way :). I have been afflicted with can't-stop-thinking-about-Dave for some time, despite my best efforts to banish him from my mind, and I was happy to hear that Dave has been suffering similarly. I had nearly got to the point where, on the oval teaching sport to the little children at work, I was tempted to pluck a daisy and try the old method for determining affection: "he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not".
Dave is fantastic, of course. I don't want to get too mushy on you though, so I'll just give you a few facts. Dave comes from South Africa, and is in Australia studying to become a Dr. in something to do with gum trees. (He realises I am clueless about science, thankfully, but that doesn't seem to bother him). When he does finish this, he will be Dr. Dave Drew (DDD for short) He is based in Melbourne, but is down here in Tasmania for a few months. Dave is, most importantly, a Christian who loves God and other people. He is serious about the word of God, and following God with his whole life. My parents like him, and so does my niece Esther.
Dave and I had some conversation about what to call our relationship. Neither of us are enourmously keen on the terms "going out" or "boyfriend" and "girlfriend". However, you do need to have some label to tell people so they at least think they know what is going on :). I hate to think of having to say to everyone "Dave and I are getting to know each other better in order to consider whether we want to marry each other". However, I am sure that anyone who knows me well will know that that is exactly what is going on.
Dave and I are both very serious about the fact that the goal of our relationship is to consider marriage, not just to be unsingle for the sake of it :). Such seriousness probably freaks some people, but I would never risk a relationship if that was not its intention. Why risk your heart and the heart of someone else if you don't think a friendship has the potential to lead to a happy marriage? We do not assume "going out" will lead to marriage, yet at the same time marriage is the reason our relationship exists. So I am going to label this post marriage, because to me that is the only reason for "going out". It would be great if you could pray for us as we seek God about our relationship.
I will close with a quote from C.S. Lewis about the risks inherently involved in opening your heart to anyone, whether in this context or in others. I have long appreciated the truth of this quote, and I rediscovered it in Keziah's first meme:
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.
