In honor of Valentine's Day, I want to share a little longer post than normal, the love story Carey and I share. The following first appeared in my third book, The Groovy Chicks' Road Trip to Love (Cook, 2006):
The first person I met at auditions was a young, eager tenor named Carey. He was one of the college grads who were vying for a spot in a Christian music group that would travel the country. I thought that he, a Tennesee-born-and-bred boy, was a little too friendly.
After all, I had spent the last year of college at swearing off men and dedicating myself to finding God’s will for my life. When Carey first met me, he thought I was cute, but a little too “Texan.” Maybe it was the denim dress, cowboy boots and jacket that were covered with western motifs. (What was I thinking?!) Western clothing aside, I made the group, and so did Carey.
By the second week of the tour, he and I were placed together as prayer-partners. We began staying up late, talking and finding out just how much we had in common. It was sort of uncanny, actually--we had similar goals, family backgrounds, and political beliefs. We liked the same authors, movies, and jokes. And strangely enough, we had both sworn off dating until after our two-year commitment to the group.
From that point on, we were almost inseparable…and I was hopelessly, madly in love. I had quickly done a 180 on my earlier decision to “put dating on hold” until after the tour. That just couldn’t have been God telling me that! I mean, Carey was perfect—he was godly, cute, thoughtful, smart, funny, and he sang like a dream. The only problem? Carey hadn’t done a 180 and wasn’t looking for a girlfriend…not now, and maybe not for a long time. When we went out to eat, he’d say things like, “I wonder if I’ll ever get married. After all, when we get off this tour, I’m going to be twenty-four—that’s pretty old! And I’ll have to find a girl, get to know her, date her, and that’s going to take a while. I may be thirty before I get married!” I would look at him with a dumb smile on my face and think, “Hello! Over here! Can’t you see that I’m supposed to have your babies?” Afterwards, I’d go to my hotel room, cry and pray, and then call my mom the next day and wail, “He doesn’t even see me as a girl. I’m just his buddy!”
She’d console me by saying, “We’ll just pray about it. If it’s God’s will, he’ll come around.”
For eleven months, we spent nearly every waking moment of the day together…and I was aching every moment. But I waited. Nothing will make you insane quite like learning patience! Looking back, I can see that God was teaching me to trust Him even when I couldn’t see what the future held.
Nothing happened for several more months, but one day, Carey began treating me differently. And then one night after a concert, he asked me to walk with him to a nearby truck stop (not that romantic, but when you’re on the road, you take what you can get).
When he told me he was having “strong feelings” about me, I nearly spit out my hot chocolate! “Really?” I asked, my hands shaking. It’s what I had longed to hear for almost a year, and I couldn’t quite grasp it. ”Really,” he said. “I’m hoping you feel the same way.”
Well, DUH!!! I thought, but I calmly said, “Actually, I’ve been feeling that way for a while.” And we were safely engaged before I told him the whole story—just to make sure he would continue thinking of me as a lady.
I know not every “I liked him, but he didn’t like me” story has such a happy ending. In fact, after ten years of marriage, I can say with all honesty that it’s not always heavenly. Some days, he’s my charming, romantic soulmate—and then on other days, he’s more like a guy you’d meet at. . . well, a truck stop. But the same God that placed us in that singing group is the One who keeps us singing in harmony. . . at least about the stuff that really matters.
Anita Renfroe--fellow Texan, Women of Faith presenter, and totally groovy chick--better known as the "You Tube" phe-mom-enon who sings everything a mom says in 24 hours to the "William Tell Overture," recently had a wonderful profile in the NY Times.
I recently read an excellent book, 12 Steps to Becoming a More Organized Mom, by author, speaker and recording artist 