My First Letter To Maria - For My Own Reference

June 3, 2007

Maria,

I wanted to thank you again for taking a walk with me on Sunday night and for sharing about your discernment and everything else that you've gone through. I really enjoyed getting a chance to know you a bit better, and would have gladly shared more about myself, but it was late and I didn't think you'd want to be up all night.

And again I wanted to mention that I was impressed with how you acted towards Tara whether she was around or not. After Jon and I were done playing Frisbee on Sunday night I walked over to the bathroom to clean up since I was all sweaty. I ran into Tara and she came over to thank me and give me a big hug despite my smelliness. She had a really good time out on the raft, and part of that thanks goes to you.

I don't really want to admit it because its was selfish of me, but if you hadn't volunteered to go on her raft I'm not sure I would have. I was torn between getting on her raft so she would have a good time, or getting on the other raft because I thought you'd be on that one and I wanted a chance to get to know you a bit more. Really, the thanks that she gave to me on Sunday night should go to you.

Late in our conversation on Sunday I asked you what you were thinking about. You asked the same question back to me, but I didn't really answer it. There was one thing that was on my mind at the time that I didn't share. I was sitting there trying to soak in the moment - the glow of the moon in the sky, the canopy of trees above us, the peace and silence of the campground, but more than anything else: the fact that I was sitting next to you and I was given a chance to talk with you on a deeper level than 'small talk'. Part of me felt a great joy because I felt like I met a really special woman who I didn't even know existed three days before. Part of me felt sad because I knew the night was coming to a close and that I may never see you or talk to you again. I knew that no matter what happens, I can always look back on that night with fondness and say to myself "At least for those three hours, life was really good and I was exactly where I wanted to be".

Since then I've been doing some thinking and praying and I felt I should write you this letter to let you know that if it were up to me, Sunday night wouldn't be the last time I talked to you or saw you. I would enjoy the chance to get to know you better and to stay in touch.

I almost asked for your phone number before I left on Monday, but I decided to pray about it first. Now that I've done that: would you be willing to give me your number so that I could call you? Either way, you will probably be seeing me again. I was talking with Erin while packing up on Monday and she invited me to come play soccer with you guys sometime and I'm going to take her up on that once I find out where you play. Unfortunately you're going to find out that I'm not any better at playing soccer than I was at getting back into the raft.

What time did you get into Lansing? We made decent time and made it in town around 6:00. You could have almost made it to soccer in time if you arrived in town when we did. Hopefully you weren't too far behind us.

Have a wonderful week back at work and enjoy the pictures I'm sending with this letter. Hopefully I'll see you on the soccer field soon.

Your brother in Christ,
Jonathan