on life in Charlotte

I had wings with a good friend last night.  We have had a tradition of eating wings together ever since I moved to Charlotte (um, 6? years ago).  That's a lot of wing-eating throughout the years.  I wish that wings could be re-classified into the healthy category b/c I sure do love them.  I also wish that I wasn't getting so old and that eating unhealthy food didn't make my stomach hurt the way it does now.  Oh well.  She has been in the Dominican Republic for the past year, so it was nice to finally have a real conversation (face to face).  One subject that kept coming up was learning to take responsibility for your own faults.  Circumstances may be out of your control, but we are responsible for how we react to those circumstances.  I am pretty sure I have more to say on this subject, but I can't organize my thoughts this morning, so another time.  

Hard to believe it's already been six years that I've lived in Charlotte.  I moved here in August 2002.  Crazy how different my life is now than it was then.  

The first year I lived here was not so much fun.  I rented a room from an older lady who although was very sweet, lived very in seclusion.  The room I rented was dark... dark purple carpet, dark curtains.  I think of that year as just dark.  I didn't have a permanent job and didn't have a permanent church.  My friends were few and far between.  It definitely was a hard year.  

At the end of that first year, I decided to go be a camp counselor for the summer.  Although challenging, working with those kids remains one of the better experiences in my life.  It was neat to see how even a week at camp can help re-direct and re-focus a teenager towards Christ.  

I moved back to Charlotte after that first year, but this time moved in with a roommate my own age (the friend I hung out with last night... pretty sure this is when our wing tradition began).  I started going to her church with her and finally found a church home.  :)  After 6 months, I decided to give living on my own a shot... found out that I loved living alone.  I lived alone for about a year and to this day am still glad I got that experience.  

My mom died in October of 2004.  The next year or so was a blur of coping with grief.  Oddly enough, this is also when I really started to expand my social circle in Charlotte.  My church really supported me through the sadness with my mom and I threw myself into the social whirl to help distract myself.  I started leading a small group with my church, which was great for my confidence level.  I began to form some really significant relationships through this smaller group.  I started dating... I fell in love and had my heart broken.  Oh & I bought a house.  

Two years ago, I met my now husband.  We met in small group actually in March of 2006.  My first impression of him was that he was cute, but SOOO quiet.  I was his small group leader, and trying to get him to share his thoughts was like pulling teeth.  After a few months, he started to email me about things other than just group.  I was dating someone else at the time, so didn't think anything of it really until he texted me the morning that I had my wisdom teeth out and then I realized that he must like me.  I actually started giving him the cold shoulder after that b/c I wasn't sure what was going on with the guy I was dating at the time.  A week or two later though, the other guy and I ended things (we were dating pretty casually, so no heartbreak was involved).  I then remembered.. "hey, this guy likes me and he's pretty cute... why not see if there's anything there?"  I emailed him and we ended up hanging out a couple of weeks later.  By the end of that day that we hung out, I knew I wanted to date him... (he definitely talks more one on one)  Our first official date was June 28, 2006.  Things between us just worked.  Our relationship proceeded slowly, but surely.  We got engaged October 26, 2007 after just about a year and a half of dating.  Four months later, we got married on February 29th, 2008.  Now we've been married for four months.  Crazy how quickly that all happens.