O History, Part III

Previously, I had begun to describe how John and I met and started dating, using my journal. Part II is here. The next mention of John in my journal is the entry for Sunday, January 26, 2004. From the journal:

On Friday [January 23, 2004], I got home, and John STILL had not called. [We were going on a date to see the play Noises Off!, but no official pickup time had been established.] I called him at 6 p.m. - two hours before the show began!! He came 15 minutes earlier than the established time (he's always early). I figure this is God's way of forcing me to be on time.

On Saturday (1-24-04) we went to Phantom of the Opera in Orlando. I wore a black skirt with black hose, then sat between John and Mary in the back seat of Mary's parents' car! Awkward!

Phantom was ok. Paul [Mary's boyfriend] met us at a restaurant for supper after the show. I had an "argument" with John over paying for my dinner. He wasn't supposed to do that!

[A while back, my friend Yvette and her husband had gone to a pool party, and John was there also. Yvette said that John had a tattoo on his arm. I couldn't believe it - was it really the same guy? She said she was pretty sure it was. I wanted to know for sure. So Mary and I cooked up this scheme before we went to see Phantom, for how to find out about the tattoo. We thought about conversation topics that could lead to a conversation on tattoos, like body piercings. Then we planned out how we could bring up THOSE topics, which would lead to a conversation about tattoos. At the restaurant after the show, we got the planned conversation going, moving from one topic to the next until we got to tattoos. John said, "I have a tattoo." He rolled up his sleeve and showed it to us. Mission accomplished.*]

Then the four of us went to the Mall at Millennia, where we split up, guys/girls. Good talk with Mary. =)

Naturally, today I was all awkward around John at church and lunch. Back to the question:

Do I like John's attention, or just the attention???? Had a long talk with Christy, who kicked my butt, as usual, putting things in perspective. She said I was over-analyzing.

Well it's my spiritual gift!

Seriously, I had a talk with Mary later, and she told me some things John had told Paul at the mall last night. Basically: he feels exactly the same way I do: scared, doesn't want to smother/scare away, is interested, waiting to see how it goes, uncertain.

Lord, grant me patience!! May I continually seek You in this!!

[*After we were married and talked about that night, John said that he TOTALLY knew what Mary and I were doing, that it was so obvious. Maybe. Maybe not!]