Choices

Choices.

Relationships boil down to many choices.

It was my senior year in high school and I had some major choices to make. Since the day I moved to Oklahoma I was headed back east as fast as I could get there. I had gone back one time in the last 2 years. They'd all moved on- new couples, new drama, they even had new malls -but no me.

I had planned on attending Liberty University in Virgina. My older brother had gone there and I had dreamed of going since I was 12. I had already been accepted. Then this snowboarder asked me to make a pie with him.

Which complicated matters.

It was no secret I was leaving in the fall. And low and behold this snowboarder told me exactly what he thought about that. No one had ever been so forthright with me. Most people are like riddles, what are they really saying?- not Cody. He said everything he ever thought. This can be good. This can be bad. It takes getting used to. You eventually accept it. Then you have children that do the same.

He wasn't "into" long distance relationships. Meaning? I guess if I moved we wouldn't be a couple. I wasn't ready to quit. I'd made it through the ski trip. We had potential they all told me.

Everyone except Cody's previous "friend". She told him he got on her nevers, but once I was in the picture he wasn't so annoying anymore. She'd lost her chance. Choices. A choice made and then regretted.

I don't like regret. I set out to never regret. It's a good goal.

So where did that put me? What if Cody and I did have potential. We had already done some events together . He preaching, I singing. We were a good team. And chemistry? The boy could kiss. We'd been working on that each night we were together for three months and the neighbors could vouch for it, I'm sure. I just didn't want to look back and think one day , "what if?" If he didn't do long distance maybe I should stay. Maybe I should see this thing through. Stay in -state a year. Liberty wasn't going anywhere. All my old friends had moved on, no one was waiting for me.

I needed a higher score on my ACT test, so when I got it I applied to OU and USAO in Oklahoma. And little by little I felt something guiding me. I think it was God but he was using a country-talkin', great kissin' snowboarder to do the job.

I'd made a choice. A Choice to stay. At least a year. A choice to see where this story was going. An epic or a short story, we'd eventually find out.

And so little by little we started working on filling that scrapbook he'd gotten me for Valentine's.

We never went to a movie. Walmart was way more fun. We'd go and look at purple ski gloves on sale. One day, very much in love, Cody suggested we buy a game. "Our" game. Boy he knew how to get me. I liked "our" stuff. A board game. Somehow we decided on a nice Checker/Chess set. Nice isn't really the correct word. It was the only set Walmart had. But it was new and it was "ours".

So we rushed back to my parents house to play. Checkers I'd played. But Chess was a new one. I had no concept of it. So as with many things those days I let Cody teach me. He gave me the tutorial over each little piece and what it did. So we proceeded on to play. Not sure what I excepted but within 10 minutes I had him in check mate. Beginners luck? I don't know. At that point I really didn't have a choice and neither did he. I had it won. And then he rather dramatically got up and left. Just like that. Without warning our lovely game had ended rather badly. I didn't know what had happened. So he left, and he didn't come back and this was the dark ages when we didn't have cell phones or text. Some how we'd avoided conflict until now. It all happened so fast. I had made some good choices and won the game -now I was alone....to be continued

We still have the game...



though showing it's age a little, like us



And look old green Walmart tags...boy we were big spenders...