SGS

… this is my response to the question: “So when did you get together with Steph?” (or to that effect).

To which I always get the follow-up question: “Why in the morning?”

This was the timestamp (hehe – geek talk!) of when we officially became a couple.  How we got together is another story…

I knew Steph for a good 3+ years – but never thought I would be in a relationship with her.  It was only around October 2006 when our friendship circles somehow merged and I became interested in her.  She had:

• a peculiar laugh that stood out amongst the crowd (the sort you could definitely notice and make you laugh even more, rather than the sort of gaffaw that would leave the entire place silent),
• a gentle, patient and quiet nature about her so you could easily talk to,
• interesting things about her life that would fascinate and not bore you,
• a smile that lit up any room.

Okay, I’m already giving away too many pick-up lines haha… but seriously, these are what I noticed about her.  I proceeded to organise a group present for her birthday:

Tickle Me Elmo

Then, in mid-November, Steph asked if I could drive her to the ball, organised by the young adults in church.  I willingly obliged, although I didn’t realise (until much, much later) that her excuse for not being able to drive there herself was because she couldn’t drive with heels on!  My excuse for giving her a single rose was that I was trying to play the gentleman’s part!  I was supposed to teach some latin dancing at the ball (which got canned due to lack of time), so Steph and I arrived at the ballroom an hour early – there we were dancing alone on the floor with a good number of waiters setting up the surrounding tables giving the twirling couple an audience.

Young Adults Ball 2006

In the following couple of weeks we emailed…. and emailed … we emailed a lot.  We got to a stage where we even shared each other’s checklists – to our amazement we matched each other’s!  (To the pastors: I did not edit the checklist to match her!)  During those two weeks, we were part of a small group of young adults who organised a weekend-getaway trip to Port Fairy, along the Great Ocean Road.  It was at this retreat where I (finally) found out that she too was interested in me.

<<Insert long story here – ask a close friend for more details.>>

The Monday morning immediately following the weekend away, I sat down at work and spared no more time in asking her out.  (Yes – to all the guys I’ve encouraged not to let the girl wait, take note).  So I emailed her.  (Ok, all you guys – please don’t follow my example here!)

Well, I’ve got something to ask you, and you probably know what it’s about:
Is there a mutual interest between us?

I guess I’m also implying that I’m a lil interested in you, and what I felt on the trip was maybe it wasn’t one way…..
What I hope is if the feeling isn’t mutual, that we can still be friends…..
And I hope too, that if the feeling is mutual, that we don’t move too fast….
Uh, yah… take your time in replying…

Oh wells, have a great week anyhow =)

It took her some 30mins to respond.  Apparently she had to go to the bathroom for some reason.  Her reply:

Hehe, I was checking weather to see what should I wear today:)
Well… I didn’t expect you to ask so soon… The answer is yes, I do have an interest in you too…

And I totally 100% agree that we take things slow, I also wanna do everything in God’s way, the right way…
Soo..ummm… yea… hehe:) you have definitely made a happy and exciting start for the week for me:D

That night, we went to our usual latin dancing class and had a chat at a cafe after.  Being a godly couple we decided not to begin our relationship straightaway but to spend time apart – to pray for ourselves and for each other and to also have a chat to our parents and pastors too.  We decided a week would be good – but it ended up being 12 days.

So, on Saturday, 16th December 2006, we broke the radio silence and met up for breakfast, early in the morning before our carolling performance at one of the hospitals.  After breakfast at 8:30 in the morning, we became official.  “SGS” became our nickname because “God’s at the centre of our relationship.”