The Beginning....

January 22, 2011
So, 11 years ago, today(by the time I finish typing this) Earle and I went on our very first date. Randomly, he called me up the week before and I had had not so much a crush, but lets just say a "peaked interest" in this Earle Brown. He was in the singles group at my church. Well, he was actually teaching the singles bible class and organizing their upcoming ski trip. He was not bad to look at and a big plus was that he had a job and seemed to be a somewhat comfortable, confident individual. Yes, that is how I sized him up at the beginning. Before I knew a single thing about him.  This is way too much information, but it may be even more weird and random that only 12 years prior to this on the same date,  I officially "began" my "journey" into womanhood at the age of 12 but as you know, God strings all things along in life, randomly, and thus the story of my 'now' life began.
At this time in my life I would be 24 in a weeks time. I had been teaching elementary music in a suburb of Houston during the day and tutoring kids part time at Sylvan learning center a few nights a week for extra income.  I had recently been home for Christmas and then home again shortly after for my brother's wedding. I was no where near thinking that I would be considering marriage any time in the near future.  I was actually considering moving from Houston after the school year had ended to another city where some of my good friends from college lived.
I had come in after a long day and evening at work. One of my roommates, Melinda, informed me that some guy had called me that she did not recognize. She said that he had a very manly sounding voice, and that he had said that he would call back later. That he did. He called and we talked for quite a while. He then asked me if I would go out with him on Saturday evening. That I also did. I was sort of excited because he had "basic potential" on the Carrie potential meter, and I had kind of hoped he would ask me out for awhile. I remember wondering what I should wear. I ended up wearing a black three quartered length black blouse with a black skirt from the Express with some blue and green embroidery at the bottom with a pair for of somewhat awesome black zip up boots. I have no idea what he wore.  My friend Melinda said that you could smell the perfume/cologne trail as we left our apartment where he picked me up.  He took me out to dinner to one of my still favorites, "Lupe Tortilla's" restaurant here in Houston. We spent a long time talking and after that we went to see a movie. I offered to pay for the movie. You know, to take the pressure off of him and he said, verbatim, "Um, no, I'm sorry, I can't let you do that."  Good move Earle, good move. I would have taken note;). A girl wants a man to take care of her, even if she does not really need to be taken care of.
It was a stupid movie that I remember hating called, "And The Cradle Will Rock." All in all it was a very nice evening though. We seemed to have similar humor and there was an easy flow of conversation and we really enjoyed each other's company. He walked me to my door and asked me if I might be interested in going out on another date. I told him "Yes, of course!" Still unsure that I might be saying yes because of  pity, he asked, "Really, would you really like that?" And I said, "Yes!" And then I went inside, no kiss, just a great time. A gentleman for sure.
Lately, I've been thinking quite a bit about Earle and I. We have had quite a bit of transition over the past few years and our lives have been busy and distracted lately. I always thought when I met, "the one" for me that it would be someone who was one of my best friends or someone that I had known for years or that I had dated for years. This was not the case with Earle and I. We just knew that we wanted to be with each other for the rest of our lives. We loved each other and we were committed to each other. We truly enjoyed being around each other. We only dated for 3 months before we were engaged. That is not long enough for best friendship.  So it was weird in a way that the friendship actually grew into the deep friendship after we were married. Not at all what I had pictured. And I'm so glad that God put him in my life. Strange how you think you know how things are going to be, but something can catch your eye in a way you are not expecting and it can turn into something so meaningful and lasting. I'm just very thankful for that man these days. He's a good one.
~CB