27 July 2010

kansas :: five

This isn't any ordinary dirt road in Kansas.

the road
by kirsten michelle (2010)
This road leads to a place that changed both of our lives forever -- even though I wasn't present when it happened. I know there are some new readers here who don't know the love story of Kirsten and James. A fuller version lives here, but here's the condensed version:

James and I knew each other in college (Biola University in La Mirada, CA). We never dated, and we weren't close friends and we didn't know each other well. In college, we had one class together. We had a mutual friend and had just a handful of conversations during my four years there. My general impression of him was that I thought he might make a good monk. He graduated in 1999 and I graduated in 2000. He stayed in CA for awhile, and I immediately moved back to WA. We didn't keep in touch in any form.

Fast forward mroe than eight years to October 2008. James has been back in Kansas for a couple of years working with his brother on the family farm (raising beef cattle) and drilling oil wells. After parking his truck on this road, he drove up on a four-wheeler (because the six-wheeler was broken) to repair some fence. Going up a hill, the four-wheeler couldn't handle it. He fell off, the four-wheeler rolled over the top of him, and he broke his neck.

Because of the broken neck, he got on Facebook (which he never would have had the time for with the impossibly long days he was working) since enough friends wanted to be kept up to date as to his recovery. Because of Facebook, we reconnected. We became Facebook friends on November 12, 2008 (a little over a month after breaking his neck). We became engaged on February 4, 2009. We were married May 23, 2009.

This isn't any ordinary road. This is the road that leads to the place where he broke his neck, to the place where a love story that started over a decade ago got a great big push.

I love that road.

7 comments:

  1. and out of something horrible comes love....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love stories like this - my husband and I also celebrated out first dating anniversary months after our wedding! When God brings that special person into your life, it's still a matter of trust and faith when you commit to forever.
    And now a baby adds a precious new chapter to your story. I am sure one day, he will love to hear the story of this road too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great story!

    My husband and I also attended the same college, but we were in different majors, and as far as both of us can remember, we never even spoke to each other. Fifteen years later, we ended up at the same church. This church was almost an hour from my (pre)husband's house, which is a long time to travel in our heavily populated area, but he felt it offered more than the churches closer to him. If it weren't for that, we would have kept on going to our separate churches, living our separate lives.

    Now we're married, and we both agree that if we had dated back in college, it wouldn't have worked because we both had a lot more growing up to do, emotionally and spiritually.

    Our story is less dramatic than yours...no major injuries or four-wheelers were involved! But, it just makes you realize, God has his ways.

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh good grief - you guys STARTED with real! Wow. I love that road too...

    ReplyDelete
  5. So this God of our does make good out of bad, huh? Good reminder!

    ReplyDelete
  6. "This isn't any ordinary road. This is the road that leads to the place where he broke his neck, to the place where a love story that started over a decade ago got a great big push."

    That's a great line! You really have a gift for writing, Kirsten.

    ReplyDelete