love: part 1

my mom had been volunteering at the mustard seed for awhile. i was searching for something so i decided to join. i enjoyed it immensely. i felt like i had a purpose. a higher goal in life. with that volunteer job, there was a tiny itty bitty feeling to do so much more for these community members and others that were just as vulnerable. the mustard seed was also when i had my first encounter with mark. my mom always liked him (somehow i think she wanted to set us up but did not know how). he didn't talk much. neither did i. i was not looking for love, lust or anything remotely similar. i was striving for happiness within myself. so for a year, he was just mark, the mustard seed volunteer.

enter casey. after volunteering for a year, casey expressed interest in joining. i, welcome at the idea of having a friend doing this with me, pounced at the opportunity. casey, being casey, fit in right away. the volunteers and community members fell in love with her outgoing personality, humor and beautiful smile. and casey, being casey, was never shy making friends. she immediately latched onto mark. that is how he became part of our little group of three. four months past. we started giving mark rides home. i became slightly intrigued yet self protective. i knew little about him besides being a volunteer. however you can count on casey unravelling the puzzle as many questions were asked. it became casey's sole purpose to get us together. karoake was the doorway. a bunch of us were going to go singing in the millwoods area. i was struggling to get casey to come. mark overhearing this expressed interest. the opportunity came! casey said she would be there if mark was there.

that is how our relationship started. karoake became a scrubs marathon, became a movie date, became a home cooked dinner date, became long distance texting to this: a loving adventure three years later.

i guess thanks is given to my mom and casey. to my mom for her very subtle pushing and getting me started at the seed as it gave me more opporties than i can count. and to casey's lack of subtlety and for her just being her.

love