moving quickly ~ or divine intervention (love)

painting by Katy Keuter ~ my sister

I met my guy in October of 2016. We were hired along with countless others to help open a very big and important downtown Portland restaurant. He worked as the banquet manager in the kitchen, and I was out on the floor. He came across as a gentle giant of sorts. Mostly quiet, focused, and seemingly serious, he could also be heard laughing his warm and contagious laugh with his coworkers over some joke he himself had made. After only a short while, I realized that his team, upstairs, was where I wanted to be. I pushed as hard as I could until my managers finally agreed to let me transfer upstairs. Within a very short while, I knew I was falling for him. I am just shy of 47 at this point, so I am familiar with the difference between mild flirtation and connection. But, uncharacteristically, I forced myself to wait for him to reach out for me. Luckily, this didn't take long. A few weeks later he gave me his number written on a small piece of paper ("in case you'd ever wanted to go out..."). Within a few minutes, I think, I texted him. I was changing out of my uniform in the women's locker room, having just finished my shift, and I could feel my chest pounding. I asked if he had time today, now really, to go for tea. He said he'd be downstairs shortly.

We walked together to the nearby sushi restaurant and ordered green teas. Even now as I look back on this memory, my entire body warms. Maybe I hadn't quite noticed before just how handsome he was when he told a story, or how charming his east coast accent and mannerisms were, but I have to say, it was his ability to have me in tears with laughter, over and over again, that truly captured my heart. We sat there at our little table of over two hours. It was glorious. Calmly, he looked at the time on his phone, and said he should be getting back to work. Seriously?! I had no idea he'd snuck out to be with me. With this risk, he'd won me completely. Okay, this act of passion and his smile. Yes, it's that good.

We decided to go out for a late bite that next evening after work. My kids were at their dad's for 14 days straight, as it was the Christmas holiday. He came home with me that night, and never left.

Does it seem irresponsible, not to mention crazy, that I let a man I'd only met a few months earlier move in with me and my two children? Yes, because in most every way, it was. But neither of us cared. I knew my kids would fall for him too. He was quiet, kind, generous, and calm. Qualities that any child would crave. And just like that, he became part of our family. 

Less than two and a half months later, he went up to the ER with me as my body became more and more numb and my knuckles on my right hand turned dark blue. My step-mom asked me to check in with the hospital and see if it was more than a pinched nerve, as my regular doctor and chiropractor assumed it to be. This advice paid off and I'm beyond grateful that we didn't wait any longer. 

My guy continued to go with me each and every time. He'd sometimes work all day only to spend another night with me at the ER as they ran more tests. I didn't learn until recently that he doesn't like hospitals at all, as he never once complained about being there. 

And this is why I often think of our meeting as Devine Intervention. Everything slipped so quickly and seamlessly into place for us. When I first started getting sick, one time while we were up at the hospital I think, I told him that I understood if this was all too much. In other words, it was okay for him to leave our relationship. To me, it felt as though he'd boarded a boat with an invisible but gaping hole, and it was on it's way to sinking. I wanted to let him know that he could go and this would be as good a time as any. He looked at me stunned. Why would he go now?  

He loved me. Thank God. He loved me enough to stick around. 

It's been a little over one and a half years, two in December, since our first date. It feels more like twenty. I would not be where I am today were it not for the kindness and love he has shown to me and my kids. He did literally everything the first many months. He dressed me, cooked for us, worked his ass off, and took care of us. He never seemed to tire. He never seemed scared. He'd hold me when I cried and make me laugh with his jokes. He adhered to my anti-inflammatory diet, and managed to make our meals beautiful and interesting. He is, after all, an incredible chef. 

So this is the romantically true story of how I met my guy, why we moved so fast, and why I often feel he was sent by an angle ~ one with a kickass sense of humor and a big, messy heart.