The Beginning of a Good Thing

There was a full moon the beginning of October 2009.  I'm pretty sure it fell on the 2nd, but I would have to double check my journals.  I also think it may have been a Friday, or it could have been a Saturday, but my memory has been known to fail me a couple times in the past. 

It was a full moon though, of that I am sure.  And Danny and I were in Redmond--the parking lot in front of the yarn store to be exact.  I'm also sure of that.  Redmond is halfway between Culver and Bend so it's a good meeting spot for us.

We had gone to dinner at Fiesta Mazatlan and then driven back to my car in the Erickson's parking lot.  (I still call it that even though Erickson's has been closed for a few years).  We were sitting and talking and Danny had to go to the bathroom.  I could see a 24 hour restaurant in the mirror so I suggested we go there.  We started walking and Danny saw a gas station that was still open so we headed in that direction instead since he was now thirsty as well.  (Yes, life with Danny is often like If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.)  We finished at Circle K and walked a different way back to the cars, which happened to be past my favorite antique shop.  We stopped to peek in the windows and I pointed out all the flowery, girly things that I loved in there.

Back at the cars we stood outside talking.  Danny was very thirsty.  Then he started talking about the moon.  He said it had been about a month since he had pointed out the last full moon and taught me to find the North Star.  During that time he had spent a lot of time with my family and I.  He knew that I was someone heading in the same direction he was and that wanted a lot of the same things he did.  Then he asked if he could court me.

I was reaching into my backseat when he asked, so I was sitting and kind of twisted around.  I turned to face him and asked what he meant by courting.  His definition was basically dating with the purpose of determining if we were meant to get married.  I explained the rest of the rules: 1) There would be no kissing.  2) I didn't want to hold hands until after we were engaged.  3) He couldn't tell me he loved me unless there was a ring to go with those words and 4) He was going to have to ask my parents.  There may have been more, but those were the most important ones.  They were the rules I had rehearsed since high school, based on dozens upon dozens of books and seminars on dating, courting, abstinence, teaching purity classes...

Danny said that he would agree to them, but he didn't understand the holding hands one.  We probably talked a little bit longer, hugged goodnight and drove home.

We ended up talking about the hand holding later.  I told him I would think about it and decide if that was something that was a go or no go.  After praying about it, I decided that we could hold hands, but not right away.  It had to be a time after we had been courting for a little bit.  He agreed and he waited for the perfect time...but that's another story.