This is a Little Love Story by Jacob.
As soon as I finished my nervous 30 minute walk with Christin’s parents and got their permission to ask her to be my girlfriend (I don’t remember one word of it), the wheels in my brain started turning. While some may say I was going over the top for a simple relationship status change, I wanted to plan something memorable for Christin. For the next two days, I had hundreds of ideas both simple and extravagant. An airplane with a banner? Too far. A fancy dinner? Too simple. A hot air balloon ride? What if she said no and we were stuck in the air for another 30 minutes? Awkward. Finally, one day on my way home from work, my perfect idea came!
I wanted to tell Christin all the reasons I wanted her to be my girlfriend. I knew without a PowerPoint presentation behind me, there would be no way I would remember all of them, so I needed to write them down and let her read each and every one. Since her family was on vacation at a beach house in Del Mar, I knew I wanted the beach to be the setting where she read the reasons why. After thinking better of burying the reasons in the sand, I made a trip to Home Depot and took advantage of their free paint stirring sticks. Like a thief, I grabbed 13 sticks and made my way out of the store to go home and execute my master plan.
***
Just after sunset a couple of days later, I was sitting at the living room piano with Christin at the beach house showcasing my piano knowledge (a grand total of five major chords I had learned off the Internet in high school). After thoroughly impressing her with my piano talent, I told Christin that I was going to go somewhere for a few minutes and I would call her soon. Extremely confused (as she often was when I executed my master plans), she agreed.
I grabbed my 13 paint sticks from my car and headed to the beach. Each stick had a black piece of paper on top folded “hamburger style” into a card. On the front of a card was a picture of us from one of our adventures. On the inside of the first card it said, “Christin, here are 12 reasons I want you to be my girlfriend.” I began to set up all the sticks in the sand about one foot apart in the appropriate order. The tide was a little bit higher than I was anticipating, but I knew if I stuck them far enough down in the sand they could withstand the light current.
I had just finished placing all 13 sticks in the sand when my longtime belief was confirmed: The ocean is a salty, cold, evil mass of darkness. A small wave hit the shore and as the remnants of it came towards my signs, I saw every single one of them fall over at once and make their way out into the ocean. In the darkness, I chased after them into the next wave and recovered as many as I could. Thirty seconds later, I stood on the beach with seven sandy sopping wet cards. So much for the master plan.
Christin and her family were heading home the following morning so I knew that I couldn’t postpone asking her until the following evening when I was able to remake what the ocean had stolen from me. I decided to just go with the flow (pun intended) and bring Christin out to the beach and walk her through what would have happened if everything went according to the plan.
Together, we took 13 steps in the sand. With each step, I told her what each card would have said.
You are beautiful in every possible way.
Your trust in Jesus is evident and contagious.
I love playing with you.
You are the greatest snuggler ever.
I yike you.
You fill my days with joy.
I can walk for hours with you and love every minute of it.
You are amazingly sweet.
The way you smile at me and the way you make me smile.
Being with you feels like the right place to be.
Every time I’m with you I realize even more how lucky I am.
I can see us growing together in the Lord and in our relationship.
And, after I had surprisingly remembered all but one of the reasons, I asked her to be my girlfriend. She excitedly said, “Yes!” and I realized that this night could have not gone any better. I officially had a girlfriend, we had an amazing memory, and she had seven ocean-kissed cards to keep as a reminder of the evening our relationship officially began.
Then, because it was official, we kissed for the first time.
***For more of our Little Love Stories, click here.***
