Due to unforseen circumstances, this blog did not resume on November 27th much to the disappointment of Jonny and other readers. Since I last posted (apart from the last two announcements), I ...
waited to pick Mike up at the airport not realizing that he slipped through while I took a quick toilet break.
waited upstairs for 1/2 an hour, dismayed when I saw the flight crew of the last commercial flight of the night walk through.
panic-stricken rushed downstairs.
turned the corner and saw poor Mike sitting amongst his things waiting for his internet-girlfriend who "didn't show".
gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and held his hand as we walked to the car.
showed him my stomping grounds on Bardstown Road.
admired the architecture while he was enamoured with the American cars, driving on the wrong side of the street, the plethora of wires above ground, and sign posts and trash cans that one could easily steal not being bolted to the ground.
sat in coffee shops with my boyfriend.
went to church with my boyfriend.
went to class with my boyfriend ... is that CHRISTINE with a GUY?!!!
told the first man I have ever kissed that I would marry him.
talked to people in Australia and Germany on the internet in a grocery store.
tried out two massage chairs late at night in a department store.
took Mike to a shopping mall.
read children's stories in a book store.
read Scripture and prayed every night with Mike.
played in leaves and walked in the park (the 4-wheel drive version complete with piggyback ride through the brush).
celebrated Mike's birthday with friends at Joe's Crab Shack.
allowed Mike to drive my car back from Indianapolis after a daytrip.
nursed a horrid earache, congestion, and rib-bruising cough.
welcomed my parents to Louisville, Kentucky.
went to a hair salon with my mom while Mike didn't waste anytime asking my dad if he could marry me.
received my parents' permission to marry over breakfast the next morning as Mike and I played with plastic dinosaurs, sharks, and wolves.
went to a tank museum.
celebrated our engagment with friends at Sunergos.
slammed TimTams.
played at a park while all the kids were in school.
said goodbye to Mike at the airport when he left to fly back to Australia.
flew to Los Angeles to celebrate my grandmother's 75th birthday and Thanksgiving.
missed my flight back due to insufficient staffing at the American Airlines counter. (reason for not posting on the 27th)
talked to the shuttle driver on the way back to my grandmother's.
laughed when he told me that I should write to Lifetime TV so that they could make Mike's and my story into a movie.
arrived back in Louisville a day late having missed 2 exams.
I am currently ...
studying to make up the exams I missed.
looking forward to being in Tasmania in less than 2 weeks.
38 comments:
Such a sweet story. Wow, 25 years and the "first man I have ever kissed". Is this really true? Maybe the first eligible man.
I notice Mike is not wearing white socks with blue jeans, but he has no socks at all. Is this right?
I am so glad to finally hear what the two of you were up to during your time together...I think you should definately have lifetime make a movie about it...I think that resse witherspoon should play me as the predicter of all that came about...well anyway, good luck with your finals.
Can I play me in the movie? 'Also starring Pablo: as himself'. Tassie is looking forward to having you, too!
Now you've made me do it! Jonny, I had to creat a blog just to respond to your comment.
As a proud member of the Sisterhood of Un-Kissed 25-Year-Olds, I felt compelled to respond.
I mean, what exactly are you saying?! "First eligible man"? Are you suggesting Christine goes around kissing ineligible men?!?
I hope, through God's grace and guidance, to also marry the first man I kiss.
Good on ya, Christine.
I commend you, Christine, for never kissing anyone except the man you are going to marry. No regrets there for me. How would kissing be great if you did not love the person you are kissing?
I wouldn't know.
Gretchen
They're so cute! Mike left his white socks at home...he usually wears his white socks with jeans. I hope you had somethign to do with that stine, and I commend you for it!!
And also for your purity, it's beautiful :)
lol ... i think Jonny's asking if i've ever kissed my dad or not.
nursed a horrid earache, congestion, and rib-bruising cough.
Sounds like the dreaded kissing disease. I did warn you.
I never kiss girls. Yuck!
Yeah, my sister got mono the first month she was married. (Similarly, her first kiss was on her wedding day.) I just knew Adam had diseases.
Jim, that's just wrong. First of all, I got mono three months after I was married. And second, Adam got it after me. Third... well, I guess you're right. My first kiss was on my wedding day. Ah, so romantic...
This is now the second person I've heard/read that used the phrase "good on ya." I don't get it.
Still, I am cool.
You slammed TimTams? Why would you slam TimTams? America has NOTHING, simply NOTHING that can compare with them!!!!! Glad you had such a good time...aren't you glad you're seeing him again so soon? :^)
--Karen
Silly, Karen. Slamming a TimTam is the only decent thing to do.
TimTam Slam = biting the opposite corners of a chocolate covered rectangular chocolate cookie, dipping one of the corners into coffee, sucking the coffee through from the opposite corner, and then popping it into your mouth. .... Oh the rush!!!
oh ... and yes ... 9 days!!!
TimTam Slam sounds AMAZING!
oh man! they SHOULD make a movie about this...i talk about you guys like i know you both - and get so excited when I share about your upcoming marriage. I just LOVE it! Go ahead, share with the world. At least with Lifetime TV viewers. :)
You inspire me Christine...I love reading your words and following along with your adventure!
A vision has appeared before my eyes .... (ooooohhhhmmmmm) .... I see tall children.
tim tam slams are amazing...oh and you guys are too! hehe.
congrats, and i look forward to seeing the movie. :)
LOL! We need a cooky Lifetime TV title for the movie. Any ideas?
Like the title of my blog post about you guys, the title of the telemovie should be 'L'amour Sans Frontiers'. If I can't play me, I know a cat in the US called Merlin who looks just like me.
So who plays Mike in the movie?
I think it should be "Connected" or "Through the Wires"
But you have to make sure that the shoes are in the movie. By the way did he wear them while he was here in the US
Sounds like you had a very full schedule. Glad you found each other in the airport.
I've experienced the Tim Tam Slam! (Friends from Cairns)
So what's up with the Rifle shop? You must be in Kentucky where everyone's a redneck and they eat possum for dinner!
Hugh Jackman will play Mike, right? but who did we get to play you? That i don't remember. (i'll dye my hair brown and play you, if i MUST... so i can be Hugh's gf, even if only for the film...) :)
I think that Nichole Kidman would be great to play you, but she might be a little old, so then my next choice would be Anne Hathaway. You and her are a lot alike (all she would have to do is color her hair)
Priceless. Especially the airport moment. I'm stealing it (for a script, not for when I get an American internet girlfriend and go to visit).
Tasmania's over Princess Mary, we're all much more interested in the impending arrival of Mike's Princess Christine.
Hi, you don't know me at all but I had been reading about your story on Sherrin's blog and found my way here! How exciting to meet for real for the first time and to get engaged! Congratulations! Looking forward to the TV movie now...
I don't come around here much, but I'd like to share something about courtship and marriage just to get peoples' thoughts.
Last weekend after Thanksgiving dinner, my grandma got up from the table and had to squeeze between the china cabinet and grandpa's chair. She joked that the table must get bigger every time they come over, but he told her she was just getting fatter, although he's bigger than she is :) But after that, he said something else about how they joke back and forth, but "the truth is, we need each other." And the last thing he told us, with an uncharacteristicly stern face, was they made it through 51 years of marriage with "a lot of work."
Now, I know being in love is a cheerful, happy experience and hopefully won't be raining on the parade here. However, I can't help but think about the contrast between all the happy newlyweds (or soon-to-be-newlyweds) at Sojourn and the seriousness of my grandpa, who sits at the other end of this marriage experience. Newlyweds just can't stop talking about how great marriage is; my grandpa says it's a lot of hard work. I know both are true, but in our youth and inexperience, perhaps we don't consider enough just what we're getting into.
I used to consider love something we fall into, mostly about the magic and chemistry between a guy and a girl. But after my most recent relationship, when those feelings became worthless in one short break-up conversation, and my grandpa's words after Thanksgiving dinner, I'm starting to think of love in more practical terms. I can't help but notice that Sojourn people have pretty short dating/engagement periods before getting married. Why is that? How do two people become so sure of the most important decision of their lives?
I know I'm suggesting that you two have not taken nearly enough time to make this decision, but since I don't know you all very well I can't say that. But I am looking for some insight, just to gain perspective from people who obviously view love and marriage a little differently than I do.
Thanks!
Aussie readers might note that the cars are on the side in one of those pics... this is because the USA is on the other side of the world and everyhitng is upside downlike for us.
When I got back I had to rotate all my photos 180 degrees to compensate.
Jason, I appreciate your thoughts. You have some very good insights.
I have been married for about 14 years now (a little more). My husband and I dated for 4 months then we got engaged and 4 months later we got married. Some of our friends were quite concerned.
When Jamie and I got married I moved into his apartment. (incidently some of his coworkers thought this a bit old fashioned that I didn't move in before that). Anyway, for the first 4 months of our marriage we liked telling people we met that just a year earlier, we hadn't even been dating. They always looked very surprised...and sometimes a little worried. It was fun!
We were both Christians and had both prayed that the Lord lead us to the person of his choosing. Both of us felt very confident that the Lord's hand was in our relationship.
Here we are 14 and a half years later...with 3 kids, and a morgage to pay. Marriage is hard work. I still know that the Lord's hand was in our relationship. And it still is in our relationship. Our marriage is not always exciting...and I don't daydream about my husband all day (like I did during our engagement), but I am here with a hot meal for him when he comes home from work. I love him. I'm committed to him. We still stay up late talking. We understand each other so much better than we did that first year of marriage.
Marriage is like a fine wine...it mellows, but improves over time.
Mike and Christine are both believers. They will have some hurdles. Everyone does. After they get married, they will find out things about each other that they didn't know. Some of the things they find out will be less than endearing (like...why does she/he do that?!)...but this is normal!!! As long as they seek the Lord together and committ to the marriage, it will work. I'm thinking that's what your grandparents did. They committed to one another. Their marriage mellowed, but improved with age.
Congratulations Mike and Christine!
I'm not really sure how my grandparents decided to choose each other... maybe they've forgotten ;-) Although they don't go to church very much and my grandpa cusses like a sailor, they are Christians. When he was in the hospital a few months ago, I stopped by to visit before driving up to Chicago to visit the girl I was dating. He asked me if we would be sleeping in separate rooms and after I assured him that was the case, he told me straightforwardly that he waited for marriage and my grandma was the only woman he'd shared a bed with. He's fully aware that society is different today, but that doesn't stop him from speaking up. As for my Christian friends, I don't hear much from them. A cousin on the other side of the family is only other person who's bothered to keep me in check. Seeing as several of my church-going Christian friends are having premarital sex and cohabitating, to hear him say that means a lot to me.
Now... where am I going with this tangent? :) I think just to agree with the point that marriage needs to be centered around God and that definitely makes the difference. You know, there was a discussion about marriage on the Catholic Answers web site a while back and I was surprised at how many people there had very short dating/engagement periods before marriage who were married for 10, 15, 20 years. In fact, I didn't read a single account of anyone taking what I consider the more traditional route of dating for a couple years before engagement. Is that not as typical as I thought it was?
Perhaps, Jason, it has to do with intimacy and commitment. In their short time together, these couples have achieved a level of intimacy to which they know that they can commit the rest of their life to that person. Their time spent together is purposeful in getting to know the inner workings, desires, passions, standards, habits of the person. When you know that you are commited to this person, why draw it out? Why wait to be married? Do you know the person fully and completely? No. But like you implied about your grandparents ... commitment is hard work that lasts a lifetime. Divorce is NOT an option. You've made your choice and you will stick by it till you die. So ... why wait two years?
Hi Christine,
I just dropped in to say that I am very excited about meeting you! Irrationally excited! I hardly ever even read your blog (due to lack of time for reading any blogs!), but I am very excited for you and Mike and I can't wait to see what you are like in person. Maybe we can meet up some time to chat, although I hear that I need to be careful what I believe when I am talking to you!
I am just writing a post about you guys right now!
God bless,
love Sherrin.
P.S. I agree with your thoughts in the last comment you made :) Dave and I were talking about that exact topic a couple of days ago.
I just realised that Jonny is actually a member of the 33 and still unkissed club.
Christina at 25 you have been most definitely topped.
Oh THAT kind of Tim Tam slam. Sorry, never heard of the term before. :^) Now I understand!
--Karen
Just thought I'd say it's a sweet tale.
Fiona Lockett :-)
Christine and Mike,
I am so incredibly happy for you two! (And I barely know you.) Your story is very beautiful and makes my heart sing.
Suzanne
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