A few weeks ago, I was tidying the living room while Benjamin was in our bedroom folding laundry. We heard a loud "pop!" I thought, "what is he doing in there?" He came out and said, "You're going to wake the baby!" Once we realized neither of us made the noise, we started looking around the room. He smelled electrical burning and began digging around the computer desk. I noticed my computer was turned off.
Even though it was nearly midnight, Benjamin opened up my computer, diagnosed a power supply failure, and took the time to order a new one before he hit the sack next to his already sleeping wife.
While he worked on the problem, he called out to me, "That's why you love me "
Yes, it absolutely is one of the reasons why I love you.
When I was a junior in college, I was thick in an all-consuming media institute as part of my undergraduate degree. I did a few free or cheap video projects for friends, as part of my learning journey. One was for a part-time student / part-time missionary. He was a student at Oral Roberts university, where I attended, but was older than your typical undergrad. I was helping him edit a short promotional video to help with fundraising efforts.
He brought me several video tapes and explained how he wanted clips assembled. I did the work, and played it back for him to approve or tweak.
All my good friends at college knew expressly that I wasn't planning to date during undergrad, or knew implicitly that I had the "do not date me" vibe. (Or so I wa told by a close guy friend).
Resulting from my express or implicit do-not-date demeanor, I didn't get asked out in college. My opinion at the time was that I was "never" asked out. Looking back, I can see that several awkward friendship outings were probably pseudo dates lacking the verbal communication (on the part of the guy) that this was in fact a "date", (which is what a girl wants to hear).
On this occasion, it was more than awkwardly obvious.
He and I were in the public computer lab where I spent nearly my entire waking life that year. A few other media students were in the room, quietly working on projects.
I was trying to be my best professional college self, looking mostly at my screen while we discussed the project. He, on the other hand, was staring a bit guy creepily at me instead.
"Have you ever considered getting married?" He asks out of the blue.
Um, wow. Silence.
"Yes, I imagine I will get married at some point, probably not during college as I would like to finish my degree first."
HINT. Not so subtle HINT.
"Well, have you ever considered marrying a pastor or missionary?"
Increasingly awkward.
I had spoken with this guy on two ocassions for a total of twenty minutes probably. Which means all I've got going for me is my looks and the fact that I could be his wife slash free video editor. Given that my looks are moderate, I'm going with the latter being the greater attraction.
More bluntly this time, I responded with, "No, I haven't. Probably I need to marry a computer technician who can keep my computer running while I work on video projects." Then I turned my face to the computer and made the rest of the conversation as brief as possible.
Little did I know that the computer technician who kept our entire lab of media computers running that year, would be my future husband. It was one of those things you say rather flippantly, with no idea what is in store.
Eleven years of marriage later, my computer technician is still fixing my PC and my heart. Love you, Benjamin. Looking forward to the next eleven.
