This is Lesley, signing in from the Rochester Methodist Hospital. Lest you think I am neglecting my clinical duties, I should tell you that it's 5AM, and the only reason I'm not sleeping is because I have to be up soon anyway. Sleep or post on Wendi's blog? It was a tough choice, but the blog won out.
I stayed up all night thinking about what I would post on today's blog. No one wants to read about my night on call, right? So I thought I'd share something potentially more interesting - a brief history of how the residents of apartment 406 fell in love (that's me and David). This is a good story to share on the blog too, because John and Wendi were key players! So here we go...
July 2003, first day of medical school. David and I allegedly met on this fateful day, although I have to admit, I don't remember much about it. He was sort of quiet, and I was hiding behind Ajit and Tia most of the day. Love at first sight? Hardly! Over the next few months, those of us who were interested in finding a church home and meeting people through the Christian Medical and Dental Association Bible study often found ourselves attending events together. John and Wendi would often have us over for a delicious home cooked meal, and it was a great time of just getting to know each other better. As friends. John and David also played on a city league football team together, so we would often go and watch them play (as Wendi froze to death in the cool fall evenings). Yep, we were having a grand old time, as friends. Good buddies. The thought of dating had never crossed my mind. But then we started our gross anatomy course, and I found myself at Table 1 in the cadaver lab.
I had noted David's kindness to others and godly character over the preceding few months, but there was something in the cadaver lab that just made me notice him more. Perhaps it was the meticulous way he dissected out the brachial plexus or the intense look on his face while using the bone saw. But whatever it was, I was suddenly attracted to this guy. How I longed to be a member of Table 3! Because David enjoyed the anatomy lab so much, I knew that I could always find him there at any hour. Sometimes I would saunter in on a Wednesday evening under the guise of "working on my dissection". My heart would skip a beat as I entered the lab and saw him hovered over his work bench at Table 3. What a place to fall in love!
In November 2003, David, John, and I decided to make a trip to Louisville, KY for their annual global medical missions conference. (Wendi couldn't come because of work.) We split up the driving which meant that while John was sleeping, David and I had a lot of time to just talk. Have you ever taken a long road trip with someone and talked throughout the night? Man, you can get into deep conversations really quickly. By the end of the trip, we had learned all about each other's families, past experiences, passions, etc. Our time at the medical missions conference was inspiring as well as sobering as we considered what the Lord might have planned for our futures.
One week later, we had "the talk". Uncertain about the prospect of dating a classmate, I suggested that we wait until the 3rd year of school to decide whether or not to pursue a relationship. [I realize this is getting long, so I'm going to go with the abridged version.] Two or so weeks later, I had a plane ticket to South Dakota to visit his family over Christmas vacation. At that point, we shared our secret with John and Wendi and asked if they thought it was insane to be thinking about getting engaged even though we weren't even dating. They encouraged us that if God was leading us that way to step out in faith! It was kind of a crazy time, folks. Although we both felt a little insane, we kept moving forward in faith - I bought my wedding dress in January 2004, David "proposed" in February 2004, and we were married in June 2004. [A shout out again to John and Wendi for making our wedding awesome!]
Well, friends, that's an abridged version of our story. I love that story because it always reminds me of the fun times we've shared with friends over these past few years here at Mayo, the cool friendship we have with JB and Wendi, and how God can really surprise you with a blessing out of nowhere.
I stayed up all night thinking about what I would post on today's blog. No one wants to read about my night on call, right? So I thought I'd share something potentially more interesting - a brief history of how the residents of apartment 406 fell in love (that's me and David). This is a good story to share on the blog too, because John and Wendi were key players! So here we go...
July 2003, first day of medical school. David and I allegedly met on this fateful day, although I have to admit, I don't remember much about it. He was sort of quiet, and I was hiding behind Ajit and Tia most of the day. Love at first sight? Hardly! Over the next few months, those of us who were interested in finding a church home and meeting people through the Christian Medical and Dental Association Bible study often found ourselves attending events together. John and Wendi would often have us over for a delicious home cooked meal, and it was a great time of just getting to know each other better. As friends. John and David also played on a city league football team together, so we would often go and watch them play (as Wendi froze to death in the cool fall evenings). Yep, we were having a grand old time, as friends. Good buddies. The thought of dating had never crossed my mind. But then we started our gross anatomy course, and I found myself at Table 1 in the cadaver lab.
I had noted David's kindness to others and godly character over the preceding few months, but there was something in the cadaver lab that just made me notice him more. Perhaps it was the meticulous way he dissected out the brachial plexus or the intense look on his face while using the bone saw. But whatever it was, I was suddenly attracted to this guy. How I longed to be a member of Table 3! Because David enjoyed the anatomy lab so much, I knew that I could always find him there at any hour. Sometimes I would saunter in on a Wednesday evening under the guise of "working on my dissection". My heart would skip a beat as I entered the lab and saw him hovered over his work bench at Table 3. What a place to fall in love!
In November 2003, David, John, and I decided to make a trip to Louisville, KY for their annual global medical missions conference. (Wendi couldn't come because of work.) We split up the driving which meant that while John was sleeping, David and I had a lot of time to just talk. Have you ever taken a long road trip with someone and talked throughout the night? Man, you can get into deep conversations really quickly. By the end of the trip, we had learned all about each other's families, past experiences, passions, etc. Our time at the medical missions conference was inspiring as well as sobering as we considered what the Lord might have planned for our futures.
One week later, we had "the talk". Uncertain about the prospect of dating a classmate, I suggested that we wait until the 3rd year of school to decide whether or not to pursue a relationship. [I realize this is getting long, so I'm going to go with the abridged version.] Two or so weeks later, I had a plane ticket to South Dakota to visit his family over Christmas vacation. At that point, we shared our secret with John and Wendi and asked if they thought it was insane to be thinking about getting engaged even though we weren't even dating. They encouraged us that if God was leading us that way to step out in faith! It was kind of a crazy time, folks. Although we both felt a little insane, we kept moving forward in faith - I bought my wedding dress in January 2004, David "proposed" in February 2004, and we were married in June 2004. [A shout out again to John and Wendi for making our wedding awesome!]
Well, friends, that's an abridged version of our story. I love that story because it always reminds me of the fun times we've shared with friends over these past few years here at Mayo, the cool friendship we have with JB and Wendi, and how God can really surprise you with a blessing out of nowhere.
7 comments:
I just need to give a small adendum to the story about our trip to Kentucky. On the drive home, we were all supposed to take turns driving. We started off with Dave driving, Lesley in the front seat, and JB in the back seat, sleeping. I remember falling asleep for about an hour, sitting up, clearing my throat five or six times to get their attention, and then asking if anyone wanted me to drive. They would finally realize there was someone else in the car, tell me "no, don't worry about it, go back to sleep" and so I did. This happened three or four times before I started thinking "I'm really glad I can sleep." No really I was thinking, "Hmmm, I wonder if something is happening here?" Twenty-four hours later, they were engaged. Okay, not really, but you get the idea.
Awesome. This reminds me of when I met my husband. We were in a band together and I was dating someone else. I had a real soft spot in my heart for my DH as a friend.
In August, and he is not a flirt by nature, he told me to break up with my boyfriend and I did. Several months later (December) we were dating, looked at rings in Feb., started pre-engagement counseling in April, were engaged by June and married by October.
ALL God, all the time!
(Love you Wendi - praying for you and can't want to "see" you.)
Thank you for sharing that. I think you helped remind everyone of those days God brought us together with the one we love -i remember Ed brought a map on our second date and showed me all the places in the world that people had never had God's Word in their language. He planned to live in the jungle some day and I thought he's interesting but not me! And he macramed one day as we talked. and He was shorter than me. And he took me to used bookstores in Chicago rather than a movie every time. He was different! loved learning and life and God...and I fell for it. Am so glad I did -what an adventure life has been with him. Thanks for reminding me! :) Tante Jan
Oh, how come there's no COMMENT box for Gabbi's -is that fair? Hers was darling! :)Tante Jan
Thanks for your comments, everyone! It was fun hearing about other people's stories. Bara, it's never too late to spend some time in the anatomy lab! :) Just kidding. Come back to Rochester and visit again soon!
Hey Jan, there is a box for Gabbi's. Not sure what you saw?
lelsey, thanks for blogging. It was great!
Wendi
Hey Jan, there is a box for Gabbi's. Not sure what you saw?
lelsey, thanks for blogging. It was great!
Wendi
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