To: Evan.
Evan. We have travelled distances literally and figuratively. Since Junior Year you have grown leaps and bounds. I am so thankful. Since Junior Year I have grown leaps and bounds. We met in silly circumstances and God made it 100% clear that we were not ready or in His timing. But, I do think our meeting was a spark of a friendship that is so amazing. About a year and a half ago, I started to unravel a little. Well God provided me with a friend in you. I wasn’t sure why I was so comfortable with you or why I was so strangely drawn to you. Maybe it’s your honesty (brutal and true). Maybe it’s your humor (dry and totally my humor). Maybe it was very little thing you did to be kind to me. From m&ms, rice cakes, and peanut butter you were there when a lot of people couldn’t be and didn’t know how to be. Thank you. From Winter Formal to Sadie’s to Prom, you let me get dressed up and ride as many roller coasters that I wanted and eat as many cheese fries as I could and I had a blast before we actually started dating.
On July 2, 2014 you asked me to be your girlfriend and I said a resounding yes! And we began probably one the most stretching years ever. We summered to the full extent of the word. We almost never left the beach and if we did it was to get iced drinks. We adventured to new places and found cool places to talk and walk together and get to know the silliness of each other. We had the easiest carefree summer in the world. Although parts of the summer we spent praying for each other for the little things that make life so difficult sometimes, you had (have) my back in a way I had never experienced before. You care so deeply, Evan. When you care about someone, you become the most loyal and self sacrificing and it is amazing to be the receiver of that.
On September 26, 2014 I got in a car and drove 382 miles away. Santa Cruz. The town made for us. It rains and the coffee is good. There is great surf and beautiful forests. Lots of cute towns close by to visit and adventure. I was there alone and I was excited to be away from a place I had always known. I was excited to have adventures by myself and hear about yours. We talked everyday. Sent each other silly selfies to make sure we didn’t miss each other’s faces and wrote and mailed packages. We fought. Communication can be utterly confusing when you have very little of it. Thank God for technology. However, we learned so much about each other through our fights. Honestly I wouldn’t take any of it back. The doubts, the stress, the long nights, not a single cent of it because we are so much stronger because of it. You came to my new town and encouraged and prayed for me. God provided me with a stable friend in you that allowed me to know I had support and I wasn’t alone no matter how lonely it got.
On March 24, 2015 God did something really cool. He gave you a precious gift that you weren’t expecting. God said that I would stay home with you. I was on Spring Break and looking at other colleges for the next year and God said to me, my parents, and you separately, ‘She’s staying’. We honestly didn’t know what to do! We were so joyous! God knew that in the big picture my service to Him in Santa Cruz was done for now. He knew that I desired more than anything to be shaped and molded into His Plan. So here we went to figuring out a new normal. It took us some time but we found it. My days of boredom ended and your busy days didn’t (I’m sorry. I send you naps). We kept going! It was amazing.
And now we are here. I could not be happier! I just want to jump up and down! I have had the most beautiful year growing with you Ev. You have been my absolute best friend. I have never been so enthralled or excited about a person in my life! You are truly amazing. Thank you for everything and here’s to the years to come!
Love,
Your Em
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