Our Love Story... continued

So, after that trip to Jordan, Aaron spent the rest of the summer in Romania and Mexico (of course, right?) Haha. He is always traveling the globe! So, we talked a few times while he was gone, but I didn't really think too much about it for the rest of the summer. I mean, of course, I thought about him, but from previous fears and experiences, I was trying not to "get my hopes up." At this point, I had no idea that Aaron had liked me for a several months prior to this, and I had convinced myself that he would never like me. (I know, I know, crazy, but those were my own struggles at the time). Dealing with my fears and insecurities is a whole other story, but at this point, my heart was pretty guarded. Aaron definitely had to fight for my heart, but I knew he was the one when he did fight for me :)

We got back to school that semester, my senior year, and Aaron and I were hanging out. And we somehow started hanging out more and more and more ;) And then somehow we found an excuse to see each other and hang out almost every day, whether we were studying together or walking around the city or grabbing a bite to eat, we just couldn't spend enough time together. That is something I have always been so grateful for about our relationship is that we were best friends before we started dating. We had so much fun together and genuinely just enjoyed each other's company and spending time together. Then, one day in September, Aaron asked me if I would be interested in going to a Rascall Flatts concert in Chicago. He knew I loved Rascall Flatts, and wanted to do something fun. However, one of my best friends was getting married on the day of the concert, so I told him that I would love to, but couldn't go :( Well the next thing I knew, he bought tickets to the Rascall Flatts concert in St. Louis for the day after I got home from the wedding! What?! Not only had he bought me tickets to the concert, but we were now driving from Chicago to St. Louis! So, by that point, we still had not talked about dating, but I knew something had to be up for him to buy my expensive concert tickets and plan a road trip for us.

So, a couple of weeks before the concert, Aaron and I were planning on hanging out one night, which was not uncommon. However, it was the craziest thing, because when I woke up that morning, before I even got out of bed, I knew that Aaron was going to ask me to date him that night. It was just one of those things that is hard to explain. I really believe that God was preparing my heart for what was to come. Because, honestly, God had been doing so much in my life and my heart up until that point, that I would not have been ready to date Aaron a day sooner. It was definitely not because I was not totally falling head over heels for him or because I did not want to date him, I did! There were just so many things that God was doing in my heart in that season of my life. God's timing is always so perfect! :) So, I had butterflies in my stomach all day long. The day seemed to drag on and on and that night when I got to see Aaron just could not come soon enough! I was excited and nervous and giddy.  We met up that night and went to our favorite little hole-in-the-wall taco joint, Taco Velos. I thought we would sit down and have dinner and a conversation about our relationship. Well, we got there, and Aaron asked if I just wanted to get food to go. At that point, I was starting to get disappointed. Maybe I was totally wrong, maybe those feelings I had all day were just made up in my mind and heart. So, we got our food to go, and were just driving around the city. Then, Aaron asked me if I wanted to go to "the riv." (That is what we called one of our absolute favorite spots in the city down on the Chicago river). Once he asked that, I knew what was coming... :)

Chicago Skyline

TO BE CONTINUED...