Our Story: Date Three

By the time date three rolled around, Jesus and I were officially in a committed relationship. There were several smaller events that led up to that decision, like meeting the family and attending church together, and we were excited to celebrate our new relationship. This was the first formal outing with our new status, and everything was still new to us. We were hesitant to hold hands, we were on our best behavior, we took small, polite bites of our dinner. We were still trying hard to impress the other person. We didn’t want to give them cause to change their mind after only one date.

For this grand event, there were two activities on the agenda. After dinner at the original Max & Erma’s (in existence before the corporate chain) in German Village, we would finally make it to the Book Loft. The Book Loft has been a German Village neighborhood staple for years. Housed in several pre-Civil War era buildings, the store is comprised of 32 rooms of endless shelves of books. They have everything from classic literature to cook books to photographic histories to modern biographies to children’s books to greeting cards. If you can’t find something you like in this store, you are looking for the wrong thing.

This was my first trip to the store, and I was totally in awe. It is truly a bibliophile’s heaven. Browsing through all 32 room rooms can be daunting, so our approach was to seek out sections that appealed to us. Obviously photography, art, food, and travel were on our list. After much consideration, we decided on a recipe book for Jeni’s ice cream – symbolic of our trip to the local eatery on our previous date.

This date was the first of many such dates. Over the last three years, we have explored interesting places, tried new (and old) restaurants, and learned the joy of adventuring together. On this date, Jesus was excited to share one of his favorite places with me. Since then, we have reveled in sharing such places with each other. If one of us discovers something new, we are eager to experience it together. Our inaugural trip together to the Book Loft laid the foundation of the adventurous spirit of our relationship.

We are no longer hesitant to hold hands, but we relish the feeling of permanency and contentment we get when we do. We are not always on our best behavior together, but we enjoy the realness of an honest relationship. We are no longer concerned with small, polite bites of food, and often joke “What if I ate like this on one of our first dates?!” with sticky fingers from wings and sauce smeared on our faces. We no longer strive to impress the other person out of nervousness. Rather, we strive to impress the other person out of love for each other and honor for our relationship.

Here’s to many, many more adventures.

Here’s to celebrating the beauty of marriage.

Here’s to life spent with my best friend.