Love Story: Christmas Lights

Well this is awkward, but last time I shared about our first kiss...yep definitely forgot to mention that it was the first time we said I love you too! WHOOPS! Major fail. Kevin was waiting for the right time and a romantic night under the stars was the perfect time. We'd said, "love you" as friends over freshmen year, it was strange once we started dating, we just stopped. We realized it would be different once we said I love you in dating. One month in and we realized that friendship love was becoming a romantic love. And then the first kiss happened.
Now that I've confessed that, how about we move onto the next installment of our love story...
If you're new around here you can catch up here. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cold air and the unshakable stress of finals made the impending semester's end feel real. My final fall semester studio project was due in just three days. I pushed hard to get things as close to done as I could in order to enjoy my birthday in the middle. But after that project due date came the real fun, Christmas lights with our friends. It was Friday, December 11th of two thousand and nine. My studio project was complete. I'd just taken my last economics quiz. Kevin had asked me to be his date to his work Christmas party. Our first Christmas party to attend as a couple. I was nervous and felt like the quiet one as I met everyone, shook hands and tried desperately to pair names with faces. We opted out of the exchange game and watched from stools behind the group. From where we sat, I could see most everyone, smiling and laughing as gifts were stolen and exchanged, and I thought, how sweet is this? This moment, This season. This life. I relished the moment and prayed silently that my future with this boy looked very much like this. Enjoying time with friends, sharing life and laughing. Going to see the Christmas lights of Chickasha, Oklahoma had become a tradition at this point. I had created the event on facebook nearly a month ago and had been looking forward to it every since, hoping that it wouldn't be a terribly cold night. Cold was inevitable though. I slid through the invitation list to check who'd rsvp'd yes. We had several friends from all different groups this year going. Some of my roomies, interiors friends, some from phi lamb and of course some of the founding walker stalkers were on board. I texted Kayla to determine the best outfit for the evening and got dressed.

Most people were meeting up at my apartment before we drove out so we could arrange the best carpool method. Then we took off in the dark toward our destination. We parked at the same place as last year, the Homeland parking lot and waited inside Homeland for the rest of the group to arrive. It was that kind of a cold night. Once everyone had parked, we made our way through the park of lights and took tons of pictures, laughed, talked, and forgot about the cold.

It was weird walking through this year, holding someone's hand. Just a year ago I was a taken girl, who's hand to hold was six hours away. Now I was a taken girl who's hand to hold was right here with me. Here with mutual friends, having the best time. We took pictures and smiled and fell into huddled into hugs to keep warm.

On our way out of the park, Kevin insisted we take a picture outside of the lighted wedding chapel and I tensed up inside. Was he really already thinking marriage? I was freaking out as I hesitantly walked over to have our picture taken. I giggled as we approached the church and joked about it in good fun but inside I was ready to get as far away from the church as possible. That was going to have to be a conversation for another time. Marriage is where I was headed, but talking about it or joking about it was not a destination I was ready to land in. Our feet sore and noses red from the cold, we trekked back the cars, said goodbyes and wrapped up another semester together. We had one last date night, just the two of us, before our semester ended. Ice skating. Kevin found an ice skating rink outside in downtown Oklahoma City. We hadn't been ice skating together since last year, and then we weren't dating. The night was so cold but the atmosphere was beautiful and I cherished our slow skates around the rink, hand in hand. We talked more and shared sweet kisses, took some fast paced skates around the rink, and of course got a picture of us before the night was over. Life with this boy was good.

All finals, quizzes and projects were complete. The first semester of Kevin and I being a couple came to an end and our first Christmas break apart was ahead of us. We exchanged handmade gifts and then I drove away for a split break, half of my time in Houston and the other half in Florida. We'd see each other again in the new year.