The Suitor Makes A Long Distance Call

New to the story? Catch up with Part One and Part Two

Sure enough, Jake passed "the test" and a couple days later, May 1st to be exact, he called me first thing in the morning and asked me out. We went on our first real date that night and he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Our first public outing as a couple: our friend's wedding

As I said, I was going to be leaving the country for about 2.5 months. May 18^th I was going to leave America to spend six weeks in Mexico studying Spanish. I would come home for barely four days and then jet off to Europe for a month long tour. 8 countries, 15 cities, 30 days. Pretty jam packed. This summer had been planned for months and months, long before Jake was ever part of the picture and Mom wouldn’t let me back out. I’m glad she didn’t, in retrospect, but it was sure hard leaving Jake at the airport that morning.

Our relationship progressed very quickly. We spent almost every waking moment together. Not only were we wanting to spend time together but we were trying to learn everything there was to learn about each other before we would be forced into a 6 week, 2000 mile separation. I say this with complete earnest: thank God for the invention of the telephone, the instant message, email, and Skype. We used all of them to stay in contact while I was in Mexico. I was living with my uncle while I was going to school there and Jake bought a long distance calling card. Uncle let me use his phone until the wee hours of the morning as long as Jake called. And he did call. Every night.

Happy to be talking to my man

 He also had written me letters and snuck them in my suitcase before I left. One letter for every day I would be gone. He told me that he had started writing them even before he knew that I liked him. He said “I decided that if I wasn’t dating you by the time you left for Mexico I wanted to make sure you had something to remind you of me while you were gone. I figured if we were dating by the time you left for Mexico, well, then you’d have something from me to look forward to every morning.” How sweet is that?! If I wasn’t already completely smitten with him by then that might have been the push I needed. I intended to open ONLY one letter a day. My resolve lasted about two days and then I opened them all and devoured every word. They were so much fun to read. They were simple notes reminding me that he missed me. Some had funny stories, some talked about things he aspired to. Each letter had a bit of scripture to meditate on that day. Some had coupons that I could redeem upon my return to the states – foot rubs, date night ideas, kisses in the rain, romantic stuff like that. It was really hard not to just get on a plane and head back home.

But we made it through. It was during this time in Mexico that I realized that not only did I truly love Jake, but I really wanted to marry him. And soon. I *cough* started looking at wedding dresses and day dreaming about our life together. Did you know that you can customize your own wedding party on the David’s Bridal website? Pick the colors, the tuxes, the dresses, number in the wedding party, even the location back drop. Well, at least you could in the summer of 2007.

Finally June 30^th came and I was on a plane headed home. It's not that I didn't enjoy my time in Mexico and learn a lot, but I really missed Jake and my family and was ready to come home. Also, before we started dating we agreed that we wouldn't kiss before I left for Mexico. He'd never kissed a girl before (or a guy, just for the record) and I wasn't sure how the long distance thing would work out. I didn't want him to regret using his first kiss on someone he dated for three weeks. So, my coming home also meant that we were finally gonna smooch. I'm not gonna lie...we were pretty excited. 

My parents surprised me by letting Jake pick me up at the airport. But, for some reason that I don't remember, we decided to wait for "the kiss" until the next day. Jet lag maybe? It seems silly now, but I guess we just wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. The airline lost my luggage somewhere in Dallas, but it didn't matter because I was finally in his strong arms again. 

The next day he took me to a very romantic restaurant in a very romantic town and we went for a very romantic walk through a very romantic park. If you're ever in Southern Oregon, shoot me an email and I'll tell you all about it. Amazing. We had a very romantic first kiss too. Just like the movies. He was shaking so badly I was a little concerned that the wooden bridge we were standing on might splinter apart, and then he swooped in so fast that he missed and kissed my chin. But it didn't matter. He was so adorable I let him have a second try. All I'll say is: he's a natural.

I got good at multitasking in Europe

On July 4th, 2007 my parents and Jake and I packed up in the car and drove to San Francisco so I could get on another plane on the 5th and go to Europe. I wanted very badly to see Europe, but this time leaving was so much harder. Jake had made it abundantly clear that he wanted to marry me too and I thought he might propose on Pier 39 and I was quickly talking myself out of going at all. But, Mom had bought me a cell phone that would work across the pond and Jake had re-uped his long distance calling card. I wouldn't have as much access to a computer as I had in Mexico but we could still talk. The 8 hour time difference was a bit of an issue, but Jake was awesome and took the crappy hours to talk. All in all I'm really glad I went, and hope to be able to go back with Jake some day. Maybe I'll write another post someday about my adventures in Europe. I truly had an amazing time, despite pining away for my true love waiting for me in California. 

Little did I know, while I was flying from San Francisco International Airport to Heathrow, Jake was sitting nervously in the car with my parents for the 6 hour car ride home working up the nerve to ask them permission to marry me.While I was out gallivanting through various European countries, Jake was carefully buying an engagement ring out of town, trying to avoid the small town gossip. Of course, my brother blabbed it, but it didn't matter anyways. I was a whole ocean away. Who was going to spoil it for me? Certainly not my mom, who, when I told her that I was certain Jake would propose within two weeks of my return denied knowing anything about anything. Little sneak. ;)

Did I say yes? Click here to see.