Carrie (one of my two sisters) came to the airport with me, to meet Martin for the first time, and to drive part-way back to London with us. I was SO nervous standing in Terminal 3, waiting for Martin to walk through the gates. Of course, we were early, and boy, did I have butterflies in my stomach! There was so much running through my mind. I couldn't believe that Martin would actually book a ticket (considering the cost), just to see if we got along with each other. What were the chances that he hadn't even booked a ticket, and just wouldn't show up? For some reason, I was confident that Martin was going to show up. But as each person walked through the gate, I wondered if they were Martin... I found myself guessing even how he would walk and hold his head up... before we had met. As I was standing there, I was waiting for the moment where the glass doors opened, then "Mr. Right" would walk through the doors, our eyes would lock, and time (and all the people in the airport) would stand still, (with some nice background music) as we approached each other for our first greeting. Well, it was nothing like that. When he came through, though, I knew it was him, and I was a little relieved, but very nervous! What a weird moment! At that point, I didn't remember where the car was, or how to get back to the car, and I just talked nonsense for a bit, as we walked back to the car. I'm glad Martin stuck around a bit to see me a little more relaxed.
That car ride was a little awkward... especially at the point when I lost my way (I was driving, and I was still getting over the shock that Martin was sitting in my car, in real life.) Once we got back to London, I was planning to just drop Martin off at my good friend's house, where he would be staying, then I would head straight to mine. But, Terri and Darren invited us in for some tea, and Martin accepted the offer... I was surprised that after a 24 hour day, Martin would still be up for some conversation with strangers, in English! That definitely got him some points.
Okay, I'm envisioning the length of this entry, if I keep going like this. I'll pick up the pace here for your sake. So, for this visit, I didn't want to plan to spend much time with just Martin... I wanted to spend a lot of time with my friends, and see how Martin would feel with them. So I made up a packed schedule, and, Martin passed! He didn't complain about anything... and he even did some yard work in my back yard while he was here!! After spending a few days together, several hours driving in a car together (and having a good theological disagreement), we found ourselves up in Niagara-On-the-Lake ... somewhere (you can count on me to get lost) in a park, a few hours before Martin's plane was to take off. While we were in the park, Martin said to me something like "I think you're the best woman in the world for me to marry." And for some reason, that didn't sound scary to me at all! It was actually quite flattering. I guess that's when I knew that this was getting serious. Martin said that the next thing that needed to happen was for me to visit him in Barneveld-- to see his hometown, meet his family and friends, his church, and see his life there.
So, I dropped Martin off at the airport thinking "well, that was a nice visit! I wouldn't mind if Martin was here for another 10 days." But I knew that I needed to take some time to get back into routine, and to process some of what just happened.
About a week later, I had processed enough to know that I wanted to visit Martin in the Netherlands... and I wanted to go as soon as I could, so I booked a ticket for mid-May.
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