Doug E. Pudge

Rachel Wednesday #6 - Two Weeks In The Wilderness

You know, I was thinking. When last we left Doug and Rachel things were not going very well. They had just finished talking on Thursday, March 23, 2006. At the end of the phone call I asked the lovely school teacher, "Is there any way we can get together this weekend?" Her reply was, "Well, I have rehearsal on Saturday, but I might have time to get coffee or something after that. Would you like to come and watch the rehearsal?" I responded favorably to her proposition! So here I was going up to her church on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 2006. Please understand that this was in the township where I had lived for about six years with the ex Mrs. Mollette! This was not an area that I would frequent often. Just as the Jews would go well out of their way to avoid Samaria, I would do the same with this place! But, here I was going to the township immediately west of Pontiac. I left early so that I would not arrive late. In fact I was so early that I drove through the old neighborhood where I used to live. That wound up being quite a healing experience for me. I even drove by my old house. I hadn't done that since 1992!

After killing a little time, I drove to the church where the rehearsal was going to be held. I arrived before Rachel did but I knew that I needed to go to the balcony. I was looking around and saw their beautiful sanctuary! The set for the play wasn't quite complete yet, but it was massive to say the least! This was going to be a very interesting rehearsal. When Rachel arrived we gave each other a hug and talked for just a couple of minutes. She was quite busy with her tasks at hand and I was busy trying to figure out the best way to approach any conversation. When the rehearsal was finished we only had about an hour before Rachel had to be home to take her youngest son somewhere so we decided to go to Starbuck's for coffee (always a fine choice). During our conversation, Rachel expressed how uncomfortable she was with me at her church that day. You see, Rachel had met a few guys online but I was the first that she had actually met in person and that she’d been out with on a date. Her words were "I felt like you were invading my turf!" Now, she was very apologetic for feeling this way, but she felt it was the right thing to do to share her feelings! I agreed that it was good to share those things and that she should always feel free to do so. We even spoke of her planning on actually meeting with this other match while she was on Easter break from school. I was in full support of that idea. We both wanted to follow the Lord, but we knew that a decision would have to be made soon. We left that day without any real advancement in our relationship, but I believe that I had a better understanding of where she was in her life.

Sunday, March 26, 2006 - Note: This would be the last day that I would shave. I had decided to grow a beard! Why do I mention this? It will become apparent later on.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - This marked the one month anniversary of my first meeting Rachel! I felt that I needed to do something very special for her. The problem was that the two of us could not get together that evening because of her play rehearsals and I wanted to let her know that she was special. The answer: SEND FLOWERS. The only problem with that plan was that I only had the address of the school where she worked! "Oh well," I said, "I'm going to send them anyway!" So off to the florist I drove and sent her a spring bouquet with a card that said, "I know that you are very busy; just don't forget to stop and smell the flowers!" Oh yeah baby! I thought I was right on track with that one. Later that evening I got a call on my cell phone (which was on the charger at the time). I missed the call but the ID showed that it was Rachel, and look -- she left a voicemail! Goody!! She thanked me so graciously for the flowers and told me that they were beautiful and of course that I shouldn’t have done it. It must have only been about 10 minutes from the time that she called until I called her back but she had already left the house. Finally I got to talk to her the next morning (after leaving a couple of more messages) and once again she thanked me for the flowers. But there was a tone in that beautiful voice that was a bit uneasy, so I asked: "Is there something wrong?" As much as she enjoyed them, she said that it was a little embarrassing to get them at work! DOH! I never thought about that! I felt like an idiot so I immediately asked her if she knew why I sent them, and she said "No!" I told her that the day marked that one month anniversary thing; she began to laugh with the response of "That is so sweet!" I thought: Once again, I am back on track!! She had another week of rehearsals, I had another week of the wilderness and neither one of us had any clue about what would happen the next time we met! You’ll get that and the reason why we always laugh when we pass a Tim Horton's next week. Be blessed beyond belief today.

posted by Doug E. Pudge @ 7:57 AM