Being Pursued

I can't speak for every married woman, of course; but I'll say that for me, one of the delights of the early stages of my relationship with Jeff was the fact that he pursued me.  It wasn't that I was trying to play hard-to-get - truly! - but as it turned out, he did have to work to get me.  After all, it wasn't my intention for him to propose - twice, in two different countries - before I was finally ready to say yes the third time he popped the question!  ;-)  I could hardly be responsible for his impulsivity, right?  ;-)

As exciting as that initial phase of relationship-building was, with all its highs and lows, I wouldn't trade this deep, faithful, mature, life-giving, 20-year-old marriage for anything.  Jeff pursued me, he won my heart, and I am his forever.

But it was still fun this morning to feel a little bit pursued again.  ;-)

You see, the kids had swimming lessons, but not all at the same time, so because of the staggered nature of the morning's schedule, I had a little gap of free time.  Jeff called this morning, and David answered, and I heard him telling his dad "this is when Tobin and Shav have their lessons" and "this is when Josiah and I have our lessons" and "this is when Moriah's lesson is" and "this is when Mom would be free" and so forth.  Not in those words exactly, but that was the gist of it.  ;-)

Based on that information, Jeff blocked off some time in his work schedule; and then during my available time, he invited me to go with him to Mr. J's to get coffee and a bagel.  Of course, we did have to bring two of our younglings along, but I'm pretty fond of them, so I didn't mind too much.  ;-)  As it turned out, Jeff ended up with a strawberry smoothie which he kindly shared with Benjamin, and Moriah chose that, too.  I, however, enjoyed my vanilla iced coffee and berry bagel with strawberry cream cheese immensely.  :)

You might think, "What's the big deal?  So you went out to the bagel shop!  That's not earth-shaking."  And that's true, of course.  But here's what brought an unexpected spark of joy to my heart.

He wanted to spend time with me.

And?

He worked to make it happen, not only having the thought that it would be nice to sneak away for an impromptu date, but also calling home to find out the correct time, blocking it off in his schedule, and arranging for this to happen--not to mention, paying for it and not minding our two tag-alongs.  I'm pretty sure that, for many times to come when I pass this bagel shop, I'll remember the time Jeff surprised me with a date there.

I'm pretty sure Moriah will remember it, too.

How thankful I am that, 21 and a half years after we first met, Jeff is still pursuing me!