Chapter Six: Seeing Fireworks

July 4th, 2006, Young Life had a leader party. Omar hadnt really crossed my mind, except for another Myspace message, written cleverly in Spanish, claiming that he had my ring. I was passively annoyed, to say the least. I realized that he liked me, and I had hurt so many other guys in my life because I couldn’t reciprocate the feelings. I wanted to avoid hurting him, especially since he was someone that I was in ministry with. So, at the Fourth of July party, I began to strategize how to approach him without reinforcing his possible feelings towards me. Luckily, he completely ignored me…which totally got on my nerves. Like, how dare he say he wanted to marry me only three days before and now act like I didn’t exist? This went on for about an hour, then he walked up to me, got down on one knee, and pulled out a ring box. As I rolled my eyes, a million frantic goldfish started playing dodge ball in my stomach.

my chest gets red when im nervous, july 4th 2006

HES PROPOSING?!?!??!

Fortunately, he wasn’t. Unfortunately, his actions had already gathered a crowd of 20 or so of my closest friends. The box contained my “Jesus” ring, reshaped, shiny, looking brand spankin new, and a bible verse from Hebrews. Actually, verse 10:24, to be exact; “Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds.” Told you, the boy’s got game.

My mentality shifted a little bit at this point. I was intrigued, to say the least. So, when my little sister called, begging me to take her to the park to watch fireworks, I opened the invitation to everyone. Guess who immediately volunteered to join me? Jose, our fellow Young life leader, who I vaguely knew and would have felt very awkward spending fourth of July with. Eventually Omar volunteered to go with us.

Jose, Omar, and I, July 4th, 2006

We picked up Olivia and the four of us set out to see fireworks. Olivia and I also brought our Heelys with us. Heelys are shoes with wheels on the heels, and are my greatest investment since The Beatles “White Album.” We watched fireworks, took lots of pictures, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. On our walk back to the car, Omar grabbed my hand. I immediately yanked it away from him, and explained to him that I don’t interlock fingers. This started out as a joke between Whitney and I, but it played a major roll in our relationship because I feel like there is an element of commitment when it comes to holding hands.

Holding pinkies= I like you but I don’t want to date you.

Holding hands= We are in a committed relationship.

Holding hands and interlocking fingers= I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

After the lengthy explanation, I offered him my pinky, and he gladly looped his pinky through mine. When we got back to the party, I had my Heely debut. Omar offered his arm in assistance as I desperately tried not to fall on my face. I made him (and everyone else) promise me that he would invest in the great joy that comes with owning a pair of these magnificent wheel-shoes. What happened next changed my life forever.

Oh man, July 4th 2006


to be continued...