Not a Normal Dating situation

So its March and I have experienced love at first sight. Our date to the symphony was perfect, her long dress breathtaking, the conversation was flowing like honey, our love of this kind of date would never stop. We go to concerts, plays, ballets, and movies regularly. But I was then scheduled to move five hours away in June and live their as an associate pastor and youth director for one year, between my second and third year of seminary.

We did the best we could, both being in school, to spend quality time together and to see if we were as compatible as it felt like that first week. Lots of hanging around the dorm, a couple of dates. One of the hilarious things about Laura living for a couple of months with my ex girlfriend was the story she told Laura about my crappy Ford Falcon that ripped her hose when we dated. It was true, the car was old, crappy and the frayed cords on the seat ripped pantyhose mercilessly. While in South Florida doing a summer ministry I bought a beautiful 72 yellow Ford Gran Torino that was sweet. So Lauras dates with me were in what I still think is one of the most beautifully lined vehicles ever made.

If you do the math you see our wedding was about 10 months after we met. We had three month of dating, and then seven months of letter writing with a few hasty weekends. But, in the providence of God, as we Presbyterians were taught to say, on a weekend camping trip with my Bible Study group, I met Lauras parents. They had moved that year to a new country home and several weeks later, while I was cutting classes one morning, I returned with messages to call Laura. Her father died of a heart attack at 57 years old.

I drove her home, and was immersed in her extended family, home church, a funeral, and mother to comfort, and the woman I knew I loved, stunned and hurting. There is no other way to conclude this overlong post except to say, God made me the head of that household that weekend. Laura's mother, slightly suspicious of a mustached seminarian, now new I loved them. Mary Richardson would be my best grandma and friend and would work for me during the remaining eighteen years of her life