I've been doing a lot of thinking about William and I and how far we have come. One of the times in our relationship that I was particularly fond of was when we were seniors. William was such an amazing guy back then. I now know how lucky I am, but then I'm not sure I could have seen it. He was a part of this group at our church called Tallowood Players. He was kind of like "THE senior boy" in this group and I feel like he was kind of tasked with leading our youth group. This group preformed interpretations of Christian music. It is kind of hard to explain it unless you see it. I'm trying to find some pictures so you can see what I mean, but currently I have lost all of them between Houston and here. Because William was "THE senior boy", he was always front and center. He took this position so seriously. So seriously in fact that when I expressed interest in trying out for the group, he told me I couldn't. There was a very strict rule that said no two Players could date each other. And since he wanted to continue to date me "legally" I didn't try out. It was funny though, because several other dating couples were a part of Players. They didn't seem to care what the rules were or just thought they were pulling the wool over Randy Kilpatrick's eyes... which they weren't. I remember crying as I watched William perform "World's Apart" by Jars of Clay in front of hundreds of people during our week long mission trip in England. He would always say "I don't know why you would cry." I guess then, I didn't really know either. Except for the fact that I did cry. Everytime. Now when I even listen to the song I cry. He spoke to people with his solo during that piece. That was William's time. I was along for the ride then. He was the one everyone knew, I was just his girlfriend. He got to do all these special things like meet the mayors of small Welsch towns and preform on the huge stage at the Baptist World Convention in front of tens of thousands. And I got to watch. And I fell in love with him.
St. Paul's Cathedral
We also decided that year that we would keep our physical contact completely out of public. Basically, we didn't want to be a stumbling block to any of those younger than us that watched our every move. I'm not sure why, but I have always felt like Tallowood has put off a strong forboding vibe out about dating in highschool. Again, William took that seriously. He was determined to have the most Godly relationship we could. He didn't want to give the church "elders" anything to scoff at. There were several other couples at the time that were having to endure the same scrutiny and criticism that we were. A few of us made it out alive, or with our relationship intact. Several of them are married now!
Exhibit A
I'm not sure about the right and wrong in this situation, but all I know is that I guess we passed the test. The same pastor that gave us the "relationship lecture" over ad over again in high school is marrying us in November. Go figure.
