Never SURRENDER blogfest!

 

Well, if you haven't been around in the blogosphere to meet Elana Johnson, you have been missing out. Today, I'm joining her blogfest to celebrate the release of her new book, SURRENDER. So, today, I'm sharing a time in my life where someone refused to give up. This story is only mine by default, because I wasn't the one to not give up, but you'll see why it's important in a minute.

 I was a senior in high school when I first met Greg, my husband. We were both singing in the All-State choir and met at a rehearsal. He thought I was pretty cute and wanted to introduce himself. I, on the other hand, was very busy talking to a different boy who I had known for a while. I didn't even know that Greg was around. I don't know exactly how it happened, but out of nowhere, and in the middle of my conversation with this other boy, Greg came up behind me and scooped me up into his arms. He ran off with me down the hall, saying something cheesy about "sweeping me off my feet." I was surprised, but he was cute. He put me down and we talked for a little while. It came out in the conversation that he was a junior. This was the death knell for any possible budding romance. You just don't date older girls in high school. So, we parted as friends and I didn't see him again for a long time.

Nearly two years went by and I was at an activity at SUU where I was starting my sophomore year. I saw a guy who looked familiar, but I couldn't place him. He recognized me, too, and eventually we pieced it together. It was Greg! And he was still cute, but still younger than me. We saw each other frequently at different activities on campus, but I was dating someone else and he dated someone else. We just figured we would be good friends.

Time went by. I broke up with the boyfriend. I went on a mission for the LDS church. I came home and went back to SUU. And met Greg again. He had broken up with his girlfriend, moved to Ogden, come back to Cedar and was going to SUU again. And he thought I was pretty amazing. He wanted to date me. And I was pretty sure he wasn't the right guy for me. I said, "Let's be friends." So we were. I saw him every once in a while. He invited me to over to his house a few times. I met his friends. They were all weird. And nerds. (I was a closet nerd, but unwilling to admit it.) 

And through it all, he kept asking me out. I had an excuse for him every single time. "You are too young." "I'm way too busy with school and choir and work." "You haven't been a missionary." And every time I brushed him off, he came back again. I went out on lots of dates, but never really found a guy I wanted to date seriously. He dated other girls, but would always come back to me again. Finally, after two years, we started to spend more time together. He decided to go on a mission. And I said, "Oh, maybe we should date." So, two months before he was supposed to leave for Taiwan for two years, we started dating.

Right before he left, we decided that our relationship had real potential and I was going to wait for him to come home. I wrote to him for about 18 months and then, started to worry about if it really was going to work out. I even thought about dating other guys. It never really worked out, but I stopped writing. What did Greg do? He just kept right on writing as if I had never stopped.

When he finally got home, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to see him, but he just kept acting like nothing had changed. He got home in March. We got married in July. Greg knew what he wanted and never gave up on it. And I am so glad that he did.

If you want to read other stories of people who never surrendered, you can find the link list on Elana's blog by going here. And don't forget to never surrender!