So without further adieu, a post from Robin.
Our Theme is Awkward?
Since Tim has had his chance to tell a story, I feel it is my turn to weave a yarn: one dating back to the time we met.
Those of you who know Tim well are likely to be acquainted with his friend Gord, as they have been attached at the hip since high school. I met Gord at church, when an old lady at coffee hour noticed me talking to old people and decided to steer me over to where the young people were to prevent further mingling of the generations. Gord was there, along with several others that I now hold dear. Gord seemed fairly non-threatening in this world of “young people” that I was being forced into and somehow I ended up volunteering to help out with leading his youth group. This began a long standing tradition of going out for lunch after church with Gord and his “young people’s” gang, which I attended sporadically, depending on the level of introversion I was experiencing each Sunday. I personally believe that Gord was prowling the halls of the church looking for young, single women to set his dear friend Tim up with, to ease the pain and suffering of losing him to his lovely wife Vanessa. I recall going out for coffee with The Gord, where he demanded to know why I was not married. I assume this was the first of his auditions for me.
Soon Tim began showing up to these after-church specials. He became part of the gang to me. One day, while eating at Christian Chicken, the waitress was organizing the bills and began asking who was together. Mike and Emily, of course, and Gord and Vanessa and Tim and Robin, right? When we asked for separate bills, she demanded to know why we weren’t married. With squinty eyes, I said something super intelligent like “…uh…cause we just met…?”, which was fairly entertaining to all involved, most of all Gord because I’m pretty sure he had already started choosing china patterns for us. I was oblivious. It was big news for me to have found the “young people” at church. I did not need waitresses deciding that I needed to marry one of them.
The same day, I invited these “young people” to come on a Jane’s Walk, clearly not knowing what I was doing, because Mike hates walking. Everyone had other plans, except Tim, who Gord then took aside and must have given him instructions on how to pick up women on community walking tours. He showed up and awkwardly walked around with my friend and I. In the middle of the tour, my friend turns to me an whispers “BTW, I think this guy likes you…” Well, that was just silliness! Why would he do that? I ignored this information and carried on. Afterwards, he invited himself to accompany me to return my library books (…forward, I know…I can’t believe I didn’t see through this!). We got to talking about ducks and Tim told me about how there was a duck couple that he would watch from the window of his office that he had named George and Mabel. From there on out I was hooked.
Tim and I began awkwardly doing things together all the time. He started showing up to youth group events so he could throw water balloons at me. He would invite the “young people’s” gang out after church and conveniently everyone would have other plans, and it would end up the two of us going hiking alone. We would learn many things of importance together on these excursions, like the fact that old people wear cool pants in Blair, ON and that there are a lot of waterfalls in Hamilton. He introduced me to Taize worship services and I decided that I liked that he sang. He came with me to do chores at the farm where I worked part-time. He helped me chase ducks and I taught him to pick up chickens, which he thought was hilarious. I had an extra ticket to a Stratford play and guess who had nothing better to do? And naturally when it came time for our friend Amy to get married, Gord helpfully invited me to be Tim’s plus 1. All of this time, I assumed that he was just a friendly guy who liked ducks that I happened to be crazy about. Mutual attraction really did not seem like an option to me, so I continued on attempting to finish my last semester university, pretending that Tim was just another young person to eat lunch with after church.
After awhile, it started becoming painful. We went out for ice cream and Tim paid for mine. I was becoming suspicious. What could this mean? Double rainbow? One night after youth group, we decided to watch a movie at my apartment. I remember nothing about that movie other than the romantic title “Men Who Stare at Goats”. I had to get up early the next day to do chores and go to work and was having a hard time staying awake. When the movie was over, it seemed like Tim should go home, as I really wanted to go to bed, but he kept sitting there on my love seat, talking about nothing in particular. After a period of silence in which I figured he was going to announce he was going home, Tim screwed together every ounce of courage that he had and made an eloquent speech. “…I think I like you…so…I don’t know if you’re interested, or…?”. I, half asleep, felt my tongue grow about six sizes in my mouth. I couldn’t swallow. How could I talk? I think I coughed or choked and nearly burst into tears and responded in an appropriately awkward fashion that I liked him too. I was very confused about why he was doing what I had wanted him to do for a long time . Why would this boy who liked ducks like me too? Am I a duck? If ducks float, are they made of wood? Wood burns…am I a witch? It was one of those heart fluttery, shaky hand experiences that should only really be felt in high school, coming back to haunt me at age 24. Somehow we decided that we should wait until we were done school to do anything about this. Tim left and I went to bed, by now of course unable to sleep concerned that he was going to try to burn me at the stake.
A week or so later, three years ago today (June 20, 2013), this boy came into my little basement apartment, sat awkwardly beside me on my love seat, patted me really awkwardly on the leg and asked if I would be his girlfriend. Being the big fan of awkward that I am, I said “Sure why not?”, thus beginning the start of a lifetime of awkwardness together. Our awkwardness has grown into complete comfort. I can talk about anything with Tim. He listens patiently to me when I go all Anne of Green Gables on him. He even read Anne of Green Gables to understand what I am talking about. In him I have found my closest confident and truest friend and the love of my life. He fascinates me with his strangeness and I am sure he feels the same way about me. I am sure that there will be many more awkward moments to come, but I look forward to them knowing that God has given me a true friend to eat lunch with after church.
