10 years ago to the day. She almost took out my kneecaps with her white Hyundai S-Coupe. Not long after that she took out my heart with her charm, wit, beauty, and the most compassionate spirit i’ve ever met. Most of you have heard the story…but it’s still fun to remember it and retell it, so I will.

It was 1997, the first night of the Creation Music Festival. 70,000+ people packed onto a huge farm in Central Pennsylvania to hear crappy music and go showerless for 5 straight days. Than (short for naTHANael) and I were walking back to our tent at 2am and we were almost run over by a little white car moving in reverse. We jumped out of the way, the girls in the car giggled, and God smiled. Before there was ever a Chuck Woolery or an eHarmony, there was God, who finds much more creative ways for soulmates to meet than by having them fill out a 39-question personality profile. Looking back, I have to say that this was some of His finest work yet.

Erica and I (as well as Than and Kandace) hung out together all week. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had, the four of us acting like idiots together. Than and I had no idea that there were cute girls out there who were as ridiculous as we were. Before leaving to go back home to Massachusetts for my last year of college, Erica and I prayed together. We knew that we enjoyed each other’s company, we knew we wanted to remain in each other’s company, but 350 miles was a long way. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t see her again.

We went 3 weeks without communicating, but finally got in touch over the phone. 2 months after that initial meeting, Than and I went back to PA for another music festival. Quite confident that THIS would be the last time i ever saw Erica, I did the “respectable guy thing” and didn’t so much as send one flirty glance her way. (She still gives me a hard time for that). Despite the cold shoulder i gave her that weekend, we continued to talk on the phone, and 2 months later, Than and I found ourself stopping in at her house once again on our way down to the Stand in the Gap March in D.C. (yeah, remember that?). Erica and i stayed up all night talking, and at about 4am while watching The Princess Bride, we decided that we should be a couple.

Not many people can say this, but the best decision I’ve ever made was made at 4am.

Erica and I finished my last year of college on a steady diet of long distance phone calls and emails, and just when my job search was looking grim, God brought along a company to interview me that just happened to have an office 20 minutes from Erica’s house (which was amazing considering i was interviewing in Massachusetts, 300+ miles away). A couple months later, in May of 1998, I moved to an apartment in Lancaster County, about 15 minutes away from Erica’s house (11 minutes if it’s really late at night). We got engaged in December of that year, and married the following August.

Now, 10 years to the day after we met, we have 2 beautiful children and a marriage that is stronger than ever thanks to Erica’s willingness to put up with me and love me the way she does. You might think you’re the luckiest guy in the world, and you might be, but I’m definitely the most blessed. I had a great life before I met Erica, but these 10 years have no doubt been the best 10 years of my life.

Whatever happened to Kandace and Than, you ask? Well, they couldn’t seem to get it to work like Erica and I did. Than was interested in Kandace for a few years, but the long distance thing prevented any connection from happening. They remained good enough friends, though, that those of us who knew both of them always wished that they would get together. They are still good friends to this day…best friends in fact…because a few years ago they got married too.

Last night we had Kan and Than over to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of when the girls almost broke both of our legs. It’s amazing to think back at how an event that seemed so random at the time looks so God-ordained now in hindsight. Whether you believe that humans have a free-will that God never violates, or that God ordains and orders every breath we take (and every move we make), you can’t ignore the awesomeness of the fact that at 2am on a warm June night 10 years ago, two girls, parking at their campsite amid a crowd of 70,000 people, almost literally ran over their future husbands whom they had yet to meet.

I don’t have any pictures from that night 10 years ago, but we did snap one last night. From left to right that’s me, Parker (4.5), Erica, Kylie (almost 6), Kandace, Brady (5 weeks old), and Than.

Here’s to another magical 10 years!

bryan

+ last night, i played some golf (well, actually it was a golf lesson…but fun nonetheless)…tonight i have a softball game…tomorrow night i’m playing poker at my brother-in-law Chad’s place. Golf, Softball, Poker…it’s the “Trifecta of Me-Time” that few fathers/husbands can lay claim to without drawing the ire of their spouse. Erica, she’s the best, and she’s knows I’ll pay her back in spades…

+ So last night my father-in-law treated Chad and I to a golf lesson last night up at The Rockpile in New Holland. We started with the basics: grip, aim, and setup. It was definitely needed. The only club i swung all night was a pitching wedge, but i could feel much improvement from before. Feeling confident that my grip and setup was where it needed to be, i was able to focus in on one or two swing thoughts that seemed to be working to make consistent contact with my clubface square. i think we’re going back next week, teaching pro Mike Spease was really easy to work with. (and turns out Mike has a golf ettiquette teaching cassette for sale…who knew?)

+ Our vacation in Rehoboth Beach was short, but great. Two perfect beach days. Really enjoyed being with the kids and wifey so much, though i do admit to needing a break from the kiddos come wednesday. That Parker is a character, I’ll tell you what.

+ My buddy Jeremy wants to head up to Queens with me to check out a Mets game. I’ve never been to Shea, but i’m all over this trip if we can make it happen (Shea Stadium is closing down after next season). Baseball, Road Trip, and hanging with a good friend…there’s another great trifecta right there. I was excited to hear from Jeremy that his CD, Recovery, has been selling well and is generating some buzz in his hometown of Nashville. Even though i own a copy of it that Jeremy let me download, i still wanted to own the artifact, so i bought one today. chances are that copy will be loaned out more than it will sit on my shelf.

+ Back to golf for a second…I went to a driving range over lunch today and was disappointed to find out that they take cash only. Cash only? I don’t understand how any business would refuse credit/debit cards. It’s preposterous. Needless to say i had no cash on me and just left.

+ Author Don Miller has a Flickr page now with some cool shots from his recent trip on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. After looking through his photos, I emailed him, incredulously saying “You played at St. Andrews???”. “Definitely didn’t,” he replied, adding that he “loved that i thought he had”. well, what else was i supposed to expect when i saw the picture of the course among his other photos?

+ Parker has been ALL about baseball lately. Yesterday he played baseball on Jordan’s Wii for quite a while. When i got home from work we played outside for a half hour. Then before he went to bed, i checked on the score of the Red Sox game for him…which was 8-0 in favor of the Sox at the time…and we high-fived in celebration. He’s totally brainwashed into being a Red Sox fan, but it’s ok. The end justifies the means, fo sho. And he’s really been hitting the ball well lately in the back yard. I think he’s going to be a pretty good little leaguer.

+ Sad to report that i had to replace my Hughes DirecTV TiVo DVR last night with a DirecTV DVR (R15). No more TiVo in the living room (I’ll still have it in the basement on my HR10). I’ve heard nightmares about the DTV DVR, with regards to both the software bugs and the user interface. My buddy Jake recently replaced a broken TiVo with DTV’s HR20 and he “hates it”. I really hope TiVo and DirecTV will kiss and make up before they finalize the divorce papers. I doubt it though…

enjoy your thursday everyone…

got to rehoboth beach (in delaware) last night at 5pm, checked in…nice room…kids have their own bedroom, we have a comfy king size…kids went swimming at the pool while i watched the US Open (sorry Tiger, this wasn’t your day).

then we went out on the boardwalk. got some grotto’s pizza, kids went on rides and played arcade games at funland. got some ice cream. i got some free water ice because it was dad’s day.

came back to the room and the kids crashed about 10pm, erica and i watched an episode of grey’s anatomy and then drifted off to sleep.

kids slept in till 8am, not bad, now we’re getting reday to go downstairs and catch some breakfast…gotta admit, i’m more excited about eggs and coffee right now than i should be.

supposed to be 90 degrees and sunny today…perfect beach weather i guess, so we’ll be down in the sand for a while. we’re only here for 2 nights, but we’ll get as much beach time today and tomorrow as we can. kids are having a lot of fun, and we are too. as the kids get older i’m loving family vacations more and more…gotta go get some grub…

• all this time i never realized that Toronto was longitudinally right above Pittsburgh. I always thought it was over New Hampshire. Guess i was getting it confused with Quebec. Amazing what a $5.95 Map of North America can do for you.
• Don Miller’s Blue Like Jazz is being made into a movie. Don is very involved in the project and is excited about how it is going to turn out.
• A plan has been “fleshed out” for the last 3 seasons of LOST, according to LOST writers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof. In the article Lindelof notes that the focus of the show will shift from “asking more questions” to “answering more questions” because they don’t want to leave everything unanswered until the final hour of the show. In regards to how they are going to end the show, they note that “…no ending will satisfy everyone.” but that they will not end it with a blackout like the recent series finale of the Sopranos.
• I consider myself a fairly big sports fan, and yet, i would rather watch paint dry than the NBA Finals. Literally. It would be interesting to see if any bugs landed on the wet paint and then got stuck there and eventually had to face the decision of whether they should chew off their own legs or just starve to death. You’re telling me that’s not better than watching the Cavaliers versus the Spurs?
• Yankees only 8.5 behind the Sox now…am i worried? Nope. Do i think the Yankees will catch the Sox? maybe. But I’m certainly not going to worry about it. I guess that’s the biggest difference since October of 2004 when Foulke flipped to Mientkiewicz. It’s not life or death anymore…it’s close, but it’s different now. And that’s a good thing.
• 3 weeks until the next Big Brother Season begins on CBS. Are you ready Geof? Erica and I are…