our love Story {staring and dreaming}.

Part one and part two - just to catch you up ;-) When last we'd left off, Anthony and I were yet again not exactly speaking since I'd mentioned that I was seeing someone at the time. Fast forward three weeks and the relationship I was in came to a screeching and heart-breaking end. In fact, the day the break up happened, I called in sick to work. The next day I dragged myself to work, if only to get out of my pajamas for a little while. When lunch time rolled around, I made my way down to the kitchen in the parish office. As I was waiting for my meal to heat up, I found myself staring out the window...at Mr. Sloan. I watched him teach his class outside - something I later found out that he almost never does - and was mesmerized. He had such control of his class and though I couldn't hear a single word, I could tell that, like he did with me, he commanded so much respect from his students. As he taught, I could tell that he was completely in his element, as though he were made for exactly what he was doing in that moment and in his profession. For those few minutes I forgot about my broken heart and mused to myself that it would be wonderful to end up with someone like him. I thought that perhaps I should actually talk to him again when all at once my broken heart came to me and I realized it was far too soon to be jumping into another relationship. A coworker came into the kitchen and caught me staring. I tried to pass it off as nothing at all, but I just wanted to keep staring. The school year ended a few weeks later, which I knew meant that I wouldn't see Mr. Sloan the entire summer. Honestly, I was a little bummed. (Okay, more than just a little bummed.) Do teachers really hang out at the school during the summer? Of course not. My heart was slowly starting to heal and I kept going back to that day of staring at him out of the window. Though in reality I knew very little about him - other than the fact that every single kid in my youth group wanted me to date him - I kept coming back to him in my mind. Summer came and went and I found myself ready to date again...but Mr. Sloan seemed to have vanished. We worked close to each other but I didn't see him again until...once again I was seeing someone else. Looking back I wonder why on earth I was with someone else nearly every time I ran into Mr. Sloan? Why? In any event, that other relationship was short lived, but at the end of it I was just so tired of the games and ridiculousness of dating. Naturally, my next logical step was to check out online dating sites. I still remember ringing in 2013 on the couch with a friend and showing her every single aspect of one guy's profile. That guy? Mr. Sloan. Totally secular site, and yet there he was, just as intriguing as ever. We were a 99% match, y'all. There were a couple of other prospects, but it was like there was a big sign saying, "HE IS STILL OUT THERE!" But then, as quickly as his profile appeared, it was gone. Then one of those other prospects came along and yet again I was seeing someone else... {Sometimes the road to love is long and winding. Sometimes it is quick and clear. It took Anthony and I a year and a half to actually get to our first date, despite the initial attraction. We're getting close to our first date and I promise it will be in next week's installment!}