18 Days

My parents taught me early on to start praying for the man I was going to marry. I made a list to pray over, and on that list, I wrote down qualities like “taller than me”, “loves the outdoors,” “loves the Lord,” “loves kids,” & “seeker of adventure.” If you’ve ever met Elijah Montgomery, you know that list describes him. The Lord is so faithful.

It feels like just yesterday that my 17 year old self drove to the church league basketball championship game at the Saint Rose Gym. A friend & I walked in to that tiny, crowded gym and I remember finding the only spot available, right down the bleacher from the boy I always kept a slight crush on. We went to different high schools & churches, so we didn’t run into each other very often. He was always a (literal) head above everyone else, said hello to everyone, and always had the biggest smile planted on his face. I would consider myself a pretty social person, but when it came to the boy I had been secretly crushing on since the fifth grade, it was pretty much my goal to avoid him. The thing was, no matter WHO you were, he would always come hug you and strike up a conversation with you.

That night, I remember it like it was yesterday. The gym was echoey-loud, filled with people cheering. He was sitting a few people down in his Belle Aire Ballers jersey before his game started, and he leaned over & caught my attention to wave. My face immediately turned the color of the stripe on his jersey…bright red. I waved back and smiled, flustered by my blushing. I couldn’t help it! The game prior ended & he hopped off the bleacher with his team to go warm up for their game.

The game was so fun. I sat with my youth group friends & watched as Belle Aire won their second Church League Championship back-to-back! Big deal in the Boro. After the game, the team went and got pictures, hyped about their repeat win. I stood around talking with my friends & my stomach immediately swarmed with butterflies when I caught a glimpse of Elijah Montgomery walking towards my group of friends. Some of my friends and I were hosting a student-led worship night & Elijah offered for us to use some of his family’s lights. I knew we had plenty, but I wasn’t about to say no to him! He told me he brought them in his mom’s suburban, so a group of us walked that way. I’m sure I awkwardly congratulated him on his win, thinking of absolutely anything to say. When we got to the suburban, he opened the trunk & there were no lights. Just a mini basketball & a handmade sign that said “I know We Would have a BALL…PROM?”

& that’s where it started. Completely unexpected, in a parking lot, with the most precious-cheesiest sign there ever was.

The weeks after that night are still clear as a bell to me. We got each others phone numbers & he invited me to his farm one day after school to see if we wanted to take prom pictures there. (That trip to the farm is a story for another day…) I remember every day after track practice, I was always the first one back to the coach’s classroom to check my phone, knowing there would be a text from Elijah. We laugh now about how the texts were few & far between, in an effort to both “play it cool.” A few days later, we hung out again & kept planning the next time to see each other. More trips to the farm, trips to Walmart, trips to literally anywhere that meant being with each other. Prom eventually came around & we had a blast.

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3 weeks after prom, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, put on camo for the first time, & Elijah took me on my first turkey hunt. (It turned out to be a quite legendary hunt, we successfully got a turkey before 6AM…) After that, I remember walking around the farm & having a very long, random conversation about The Office. I quickly learned that he was just stalling, because he finally broke the conversation by asking me on our first date. I said a very excited yes.

May 5, we went on our first date to Pucketts Grocery, and walked around the JazzFest on the Square. The only picture we have of us from the night was taken by my friends who stalked our first date. (I figured it would happen, it was a weird tradition we had in our friend group…)

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I remember riding home that night and telling him that I had a blast and would love to do it again, to which he responded ” & again & again & again?” I smiled & nodded, “& again & again & again!”

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The ‘agains’ never stopped. There were Friday night football games, more proms, lots of dreams, trips to the farm, drives in Milton, dinner dates, long hikes, “Sibling Days,” high school graduations, and fun trips with friends. There was the first time we said “I love you,” the first time we held hands, the first time we danced, and the first time we kissed. There were also tough conversations, doubts, difficult seasons, & hard decisions, but we slowly learned that we wanted all of our days together-even the bad ones.

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As we got older, we acknowledged how much we had both changed since the playground together in the fifth grade and even since that Church League game at Saint Rose, and how we loved the direction we both were heading in life.

Fast forward to June 11, 2020, Elijah schemed a very believable way to get me back to the Saint Rose parking lot. In the same fashion as the first question he asked me in that parking lot, he pulled out that little basketball and caught me by surprise.

In a very different fashion than the first question he asked me in that parking lot, he got down on one knee and pulled out a ring. Just like the first time, I said a very excited yes. Except this time with tears.

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As I type this, through more teary eyes & disbelief, there are 18 days left until we get married.

My grandmother just sent us a letter and included this quote: “The secret of life is not finding someone to live with; it’s finding someone you can’t live without.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

I know this life will have good seasons and bad seasons, but just like we said after our first date, we’ll choose each other again & again & again.

Let the countdown continue!

Daisy Sue