Monday

Monday's aren't usually the preferred day of the week to look forward to. Usually it's Friday because then the weekend comes. But today is Saturday and I am SO looking forward to Monday!!!!

Why? Because Adam comes on Monday, God willing!

I say God willing because it's true. Through this whole process of dating, time together has been elusive. It seems like the stars have to align in a magical way in order for us to be together. This time is no exception. However, as of now, we have a place to stay, we have a job, and really, it's just the car that needs to stay reliable- which of course is in God's hands, and possibly with the help of duct tape and Elmer's glue.

But hopefully, if all goes well, Adam will be here Monday late afternoon.

And then guess what?!?

We have a YEAR together, well at least the school year.

Do you understand how EXCITING that is??!?!?! Most couples take for granted the idea that they can BE together. Well not THIS couple!! Being together is a privilege, and one that hasn't lasted for more than three months so far. That three months was a gift, and this year will be a gift as well.

I am excited because we get to settle down a bit. We will both have a schedule and a life, and we will have to make it work. We have the opportunity to make friends as a couple, and see what kind of a couple we are. I'm excited because I don't even know what kind of couple we are!!!! I know how we are in private, but who are we going out? In groups? Everyday? At church? I don't know! I'm excited to for this. I'm excited for his friends and mine. I'm excited that it will be for more than a day or a week, but that this will be our lives, together; not as two separate people, but as a couple.

I don't even think I know how to be a couple, not in public at least. I know how to be single, and I know how to be around people with him, but I don't know how to be as a unit. When it's not just Emilie or just Adam or Adam and Emilie, but "Them"

There is one couple that I love, Anna and Yuri, who are an incredible example of this. They are so welcoming and so hospitable to everyone they meet. They can easily be separate but they are always one team- one unit. They can be apart but they are always very much together, in a way that is natural and beautiful and inviting. Both of them are engaged in loving people and they draw others in to themselves as a couple. I can't explain it well, but it's wonderful to watch.

I think what's most impressive is that they are BOTH engaged in others. I very rarely ever see both people be engaging; usually it's more the woman than the man, but I've seen the man be inviting as the woman is sitting back unengaged and unengaging. Perhaps it's personality, but as an introvert, I don't necessarily believe it. It's a genuine interest, love, and care for the people around you. It's an understanding that the people you are with are worth getting to know and being alive around.

As an individual, I understand this, but as a couple, I don't have the practice. But Anna and Yuri...they are wonderful. At Yuri's birthday, they served. Anna was a magnificent hostess, and Yuri was making sure everyone was at ease and having a great time. They were fully there, in the present moment, with the people they care about. Anna and Yuri compliment each other well and are assets to the other. As a pastor, Yuri loves people and truly has a caring heart towards others. But he has the trust in his wife knowing that she is a godly woman, with a Christ-like character, and who will also love the people he brings into their life. She is an extension of him and he is an extension of her. They do not have to worry about the other, because they are working towards a common goal will common values.

It's interesting because they can pass people from one to the other without having to worry that that person will be taken care of. If I am at the house, I can be with Yuri or Anna and I still have the same impression of being cared for. As Anna's friend, she can trust me with Yuri because he will still hold the same values and purposes that she has. At first knowing Yuri, he invited me to get to know his wife, who he is proud for me to get to know. He can easily connect me to her because he knows that she will love me the same way that he would.

I wish for the same. I want to be part of a team working for a common purpose with common values. To love people the way they deserve to be loved and being able to trust my teammate that they will uphold the same values, same purpose, and same care that I have. I want to be able to entrust my teammate with the care of a person, and to know that they will be satisfied with their experience (I know it sounds like a business, but that's the only model I can think of right now). That my teammate and I can go into a room full of people and "take the room" as it were. To be light and salt wherever we go. To be fully engaged and engaging, but as a team and not as individuals, sometimes physically separate but always together.

So I am excited for Monday. The beginning of finding out who we are and what we are made of. To discover our common purpose and goals, and to find the natural rhythm of who we are as a couple.