OUR LIFELONG CONVERSATION (PART 8)...

PART 8: MADE IN THE UK, BACK IN THE US

the sunday after antique show evan flew back to england while i stayed in america another week for trey and vanessa's wedding. then the following sunday i boarded a plane myself eager to see evan in person again.

while i was still in the states we had talked on the phone a couple of times. it was strange to hear his voice over the phone. in the beginning stages of most relationships you typically spend a lot of time on the phone. when we met there was no need to exchange numbers. it was truly easier to walk next door then try to get a hold of one another on the single phone line at each of our houses that we shared with every other person living there. so we had never even heard each other's voice on the phone until 2 months into dating. the night before my flight left evan and i talked briefly on the phone. at then end of our conversation he asked for my return flight information. i was glad he knew around what time i should arrive "home" and we were both excited it wouldn't be much longer apart.

as i boarded my flight back across the ocean i was giddy with anticipation and couldn't stop thinking about where i would be soon. the hours ticked by slowly on the airplane though. i finally arrived at london gatwick airport and hurried to catch an oxford tube bus. while on the bus ride a nice couple sat across the aisle from me. i found out they were returning from a weekend trip. they were originally from georgia but also living in oxford for awhile for the husband to attend seminary there. when taking the oxford tube i typically got off at the glouscester green stop and walked the rest of the way back to our house. on this particular day though the nice couple invited me to get off with them at the park and ride stop instead. they had parked their car there before they left for their trip and offered to give me a ride back to the house on canterbury road. the thought of not having to pull all my luggage along the 20 minute walk was quite appealing. and he was in seminary so surely it was safe. i accepted their offer and was thinking how now i would get to see evan sooner this way! i couldn't wait to surprise him early.

when they dropped me off, i guess i was actually the one in for a surprise. i went to house 9 first to drop off my luggage. i tried to politely say hello to everyone i passed but i was definitely on a mission to find one person in particular. so far i wasn't having much luck on my mission, so i decided to go next door to the guy's house. over there it was the same story. i heard several other nice "welcome backs" but none of them came from the person i wanted to see most. one of the guys looked confused that i was alone when he saw that i was back. "where is evan?" andrew asked. "i don't know, i was wondering the same thing," i responded. "huh," he said, "i thought he was going to meet you." "oh, okay," i said. i interpreted this to mean evan was going to meet me at house 9 so i went back over to the girls' house wondering how i had missed seeing him in the commons room. when he still wasn't there i began to ask everyone i saw if they knew where he was. i finally pieced enough information together to find out he had gone into oxford city center to meet me there. he had planned to be there waiting for me when i got off the oxford tube at glouscester green. the only problem was i didn't get off at that stop so there he sat waiting still.

instead of risking missing each other again, i decided i should just stay put and hoped he would eventually come back. and so time passed slowly again and i spent the minutes hoping he wasn't too frustrated when he returned. after waiting over 2 hours at the bus stop evan finally gave up and came back to the house. i saw him walking up the road and went to meet him at the corner and sheepishly explained why he hadn't seen me get off the bus when i got to town. thankfully we were too excited to see each other again to waste time being frustrated.

from that day in april until we went back to the states in may, we made sure not to spend any more time than we had to apart. we went for walks to city center and around parks, went into london for more sightseeing and shows, traveled with friends to the lake district and scotland, celebrated evan's birthday texas style, dined at the trout, went to birmingham for a concert, and continued to fall more and more in love. during this stage there were lots of "i love (fill-in-the-blank with anything besides the simple word "you.") "i love your smile," "i love your stories," "i just care so much about you," and plenty of other sappy phrases to try to explain how much we loved being together without officially saying "i love you." we were both feeling it but didn't dare say those 3 words yet.

a group dinner at the trout,
stuck in a train station after the james taylor concert,
passover dinner on the lawn

an inside picnic with colin and chloe,
evan's birthday dinner,
photo opportunities in england and scotland

our last few weeks in england were not only filled with fun times, we also had to talk about some serious things. my original plan after the semester abroad was to head up to nyc and interview for teaching jobs there. what had once been an exciting opportunity started to feel more like an obligation that i was becoming unsure about. this had been a part of my plan for so long it was hard to admit that God might be opening different doors now. i was struggling with some serious doubts over whether that was really where i was supposed to go next but i also had way too much pride to simply be "that girl" who changed her plans for "some guy." all the while i kept thinking how easy evan had it. obviously that fall he was returning to abilene to finish his degree there. i became almost jealous that he knew exactly what his next step was, while i had all the pressure of determining how long-distant our relationship would be. little did i know he was also having a hard time. i found out later evan was struggling with letting me know how much he wanted me close without ever making me feel tied down.

it was while discussing my future plans that evan saw me truly cry for the first time. of course it wasn't a little dainty cry like i had done the afternoon of my birthday. it was a head hidden in my lap, giant tears that soaked everything within a 10 foot radius, bawl. he had been helping me fill out online applications for school districts all over texas as other options for the future. after hours of putting on a brave face and trying to imagine myself in every city i applied in i was exhausted. i couldn't hold it together anymore. i like to have a concise plan for everything and at this point i had nothing that even slightly resembled order for my future. so i lost it. as i bawled he sat there scratching my back. it took some time to gain composure again but i finally peeked up to look at him. i expected to see an overwhelmed face but instead i saw him slightly grinning to himself. instead of scaring him off he was actually glad i had finally trusted him enough to show the raw emotions i'd been holding back.

not only did we have the unknown fall looming ahead of us, we also knew our time together in england was quickly coming to an end. and then the day that we knew was coming came. we left england early one may morning and eventually arrived back in texas. we landed at dfw airport and evan immediately went home to houston while i headed back to abilene. as we said goodbye from the airport we were both praying that all that we had shared in the UK would be strong enough for our relationship to continue whatever came our way back in the US.

PART 9: A TALE OF TWO SUMMERS