The Best Answer If You’re Ever Invited on an Adventure (An Uncommon Love: Chapt.5}
*Here’s Chapter 5 of An Uncommon Love – our true-life love story. If you’re new here, you can catch up by reading Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, and Chapter Four.
Waiting has never been my strong point.
Seems so useless. Time wasted.
And, what’s worse, makes me feel helpless.
Yet I found myself waiting for two whole days. Waiting for him to call.
What a rotten deal.
Here I’d known since Friday night at that life-changing dinner party that this was the guy I was going to marry and – as I was staying in town for only eight days – why would we throw away two of those precious days?
Or to be more precise, why was he throwing them away?
And if I was so certain he was the man for me . . . what was taking him so long to realize that I was the woman for him?
All Grown Up Now
So he finally called.
Late Sunday night and I answered in my best attempt at a nonchalant voice.
“Hello, Matthew! Monday night? Dinner and a movie. Hmm….let me think. Yes, well, that should work fine. See you then.”
Click.
Good thing he couldn’t see my heart pounding over the phone. He couldn’t see my eyes sparkling, or my toes wiggling in happy anticipation either.
Ridiculous.
I mean, I wasn’t a child anymore. I was 26 and all grown up. And he was a grown man at 31 years.
You understand, don’t you? We’re not talking about a couple of young kids here. The stakes were high now and we couldn’t afford a mere “crush.”
We were both looking for the Real Deal.
Yes, this was big stuff with serious consequences. I needed to get a grip and approach this thing from a mature perspective.
So why wouldn’t my feet stop from dancing . . . ?
Chopsticks and Life in Little Saigon
I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Although he couldn’t possibly have known beforehand that I was crazy for Thai food, he picked out this wonderful little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that just happened to serve the tastiest Thai food in Portland.
It was a smart move.
Then I’m not sure how the conversation began, but I believe it was when he remarked how adept I was with using chopsticks. So he asked me about it. And that got me started.
I told him about how I had been living for the past two years with a Vietnamese family down in Little Saigon, a Vietnamese community in Southern California. About the church there. The fun and gracious people. Then all about these youth that I loved so much.
How they affectionately called me Mi Trang.
How I taught them to sing “Our God Reigns” and “Lamb of God”.
And how they had introduced me to chopsticks and the wonders of eating phở, the best Vietnamese soup in the world.
How they had captured my heart.
But I quickly caught myself. What was I doing? How could I go on and on like that? Pouring out my story in such a way. Without pausing for breath or stopping to consider.
I shut my mouth and looked up at him. Wondering if I had scared him away with all my passionate enthusiasm.
And that’s when I saw it.
This guy across the table from me was completely engaged and listening. Truly listening. He didn’t seem bored at all. He actually seemed interested in my thoughts, my experiences, and how I felt about life.
He was genuinely interested in me.
The Best Answer
My cheeks felt suddenly flushed – and it wasn’t merely the hot peppers that made it so.
As if he could sense my discomfort, he picked up where I had trailed off. He began sharing some of his own adventures of speeding across the Autobahn in Germany. Trekking through the bush near the Yukon border of Northern Canada. And spending a summer sailing through the Gulf Islands.
And that’s when he popped the question.
Oh, no, not THE QUESTION.
Just the question.
“Hey, why don’t you come with me? What would you say to going with me to a small island in British Columbia where good friends of mine are staying for a few days? They’re on holiday and it’s beautiful there. I know you’d love it.”
I never even blinked.
I simply said, “Yes! I’d love to go with you.”
And we continued the conversation as if it was just the kind of thing we did. You know, sail off to small islands together. Him and me.
Because when the Right Guy asks you to go on an adventure with him?
You say YES.
(Unless you’re one of my daughters and then you say, Okay, but I have to ask my parents first…and they’ll probably have to pray about it. But thanks for asking.)
But all I said was yes.
Yes, I will go with you.
To the ends of the earth. (Except I didn’t add that last part – not aloud, anyway.)
We left the restaurant without saying much more to each other. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. My thoughts mostly swirling around a small island off the coast of Canada.
A place I’d never been to.
With a man I’d only just met.
He drove us over to the cinema and we caught a late showing of some popular movie. Not that I remember anything about it.
I mean, how can you concentrate on a romantic comedy . . . when you’ve just begun living your very own? (The comedy part is still yet to come.)
It was well past midnight by the time he dropped me off at my parents’ home. Although the hour was late and I was drop-dead-tired, for some reason I had a difficult time drifting off to sleep that night.
He loves me . . . He loves me not . . . He loves me . . .
Or not?
As for Matthew, he went home and called his good friend from college and told him . . .
Well, I should really let him tell you what he said. Because it’s very important.
To be continued . . . . See you next Wednesday for Chapter Six then?
In His grace,
*Hint: That phone call is one of my favorite parts of our story! 
*Chapter One: If He Was the Last Man On Earth*Chapter Two: Where Is She? Searching for My Forever Girl
*Chapter Three: What Happens When Mr. Right Walks Into the Room
*Chapter Four: What A Smile Can Say to Him
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