Looking Back

Just a warning: this is probably the longest post ever, and boring to anyone except the people who were actually involved. But feel free to read it if you have lots of extra time ;-)

My husband is lucky enough to revisit his high school years tonight. He and his friend JC are skipping one of their last softball games, and going to a Creed Concert. Apparently they reunited?? Who knew? Anyway, Luke was (is?) probably the biggest Creed fan you could ever imagine. I didn't really know him back in his hs days...we were strangers who just happened to be in the same youth group, and had the same friends. But I knew that he loved Creed! I remember him coming over to my friends' house while I was there one time, and bringing over a VHS tape with Creed's "Behind the Music" on it for everyone to watch. I remember him constantly talking about or listening to Creed. And one of his senior pictures is of him standing next to a Creed poster. It's too good, I have to take a picture of it and upload it ;-) (I sure wish we had a scanner!!)Don't ya love his spikey hair and blond tips?? This was back in high school when all the girls wanted him. lol...except me. Glad I didn't fall for him until later, when all of those other girls had moved away or gone off to college far away ;-) My life could have been a whole lot more dramatic!!

All this Creed talk has got me thinking back to when I was the nerdy, shy girl in high school, and Luke was the quiet, confident, cute boy that all the girls liked. I already shared about our story a long time ago, but today I thought I'd focus on the high school years, and even before that. I think I'll share this post with Luke, because he remembers NOTHING.

I just think it's funny that most of my friends from youth group actually dated Luke. I heard so many stories about him and his break-ups. He barely knew me, but I knew a lot about him. Because girls like to talk ;-)

-I remember being in 3rd or 4th grade and giggling with my best friend in her bedroom, because she was reading her journal to me. She was reading about a new, cute boy in her homeschool group whom she had a big crush on...Luke. (Seriously, my long term memory is like a steel trap. I don't forget anything!)

- In junior high, I remember that same friend having a horrible time deciding if she liked Luke or his best friend. There was a lot of drama that went on through that situation. They both liked her, and I think there was a lot of back-and-forth "dating" going on.

- I remember when Luke first started showing up at our youth group in high school. Girls were always whispering about him and his best friend and how cute they were and the crushes they had on them. I was everybody's nerdy friend, though, and knew that no one like that would ever date me, so I tried to stay out of it all (Guess I was wrong about that!!)

- I remember when Luke started dating a girl in my youth group who is also somehow related to me. I had just had my heart broken for the first time, and pretty much hated happy couples. (You know the feeling if you've ever been dumped :-P) I remember he always had his arm around her and I just wanted to gag. (sorry, Luke :-P)

- I remember Luke taking a sweet girl, also from youth group, to prom and kind of double-dating there with my best friend and her boyfriend (now husband). That was my sophomore year, and I had actually been asked by an upperclassman! But, that upperclassman decided to retract his invitation a few days after he had asked me. So yes, again, I was moping and hating couples, and being jealous of all the people who were at prom having a good time. (i.e. Luke).

- I remember going to youth explosion (a youth retreat) my junior year and rooming with 2 of my best friends, and also with Luke's girlfriend at the time. On the ride there, my hs best friend and I were complaining about how no boys liked us. (are you seeing a pattern here? It's what we did in high school). And Luke's girlfriend told us that we would find someone. In fact, she never thought she would find anybody either, until she started dating Luke. And now that she had found Luke, she thought she had found the man she was going to marry. Ha! Well, they broke up later that year. But this story is funny now.

- Toward the end of high school, I remember Luke getting into a VERY serious relationship with another girl from youth group. To look at them, they seemed to be so deeply in love. I really thought they were going to get married. BUT, Luke broke up with her. I remember having a girls' night right after the break up, to make the girl feel better. At that point, she was SO mad at Luke. I remember her saying some horrible things about him (which she probably had a right to, we all say horrible things when we're mad). So it's surprising that I ever fell for him after hearing some of those things. Just kidding!

- Fast forward to college. I was FINALLY in another relationship. lol...so no more complaining about being single. But the relationship certainly wasn't ideal, and I definitely wasn't "in love." Luke was also in a pretty serious relationship with a girl who actually WASN'T from my old youth group! Anyway, our church took a trip to a Cleveland Indians game. My boyfriend and I somehow ended up across the aisleway from Luke and his girlfriend on the bus on the way to the game. the entire night, my boyfriend kept teasing me and saying, "You think that guy's cute, don't you?" I kept denying it. I was LYING. Luke had started letting his facial hair grow, and it drove me crazy....in a good way. He looked so grown up and SOOO cute!! In a way, I think my ex-boyfriend was the one who started me looking at Luke in a different way. That's bad, isn't it? :-P

- I remember hearing about when Luke and that last girlfriend broke up. That year my old high school's girl's basketball team had made it to state. I went to one of the games in Columbus, and my boyfriend at the time was supposed to meet me there. I hadn't seen him in a few days. Luke and a few of our mutual friends were also there, and I was standing with them while waiting for my b/f to meet me there. When he got there, he walked straight past me, and went to talk to someone else. I was SO upset (maybe I overreacted, but I was near tears). Luke kinda made this sympathetic face and just said, "Oh, she just got ignored." Or something like that. I wanted to run over and hug him and cry, just because even HE, this guy who I had thought was kind of a heartbreaker and jerk, could understand that that would make me feel bad. I'm sure he doesn't remember this, but I thought it was sweet.

- I remember when my boyfriend and I finally broke up, and finally for probably the first time, Luke and I were both single at the same time. The rest is history ;-)

Sorry, Luke, for basically sharing your dating history. But I think it's funny from my perspective. If someone had told me in high school that I was going to marry Luke Wallace, I probably would have laughed and NEVER believed it. It's funny how things work out :-) And I couldn't be happier.