Our Love Story - Part III

{You can read part I and Part II here and here} Continuing where I left off last time - The second week was so different and I feel like I remember it like it was yesterday! We were all put into small groups for the week of clubs. I was in a group with two girls named Hope and Melody. I haven't been in contact with them in forever but I have very fond memories of our times together. It just so happened that our group and Nathan's group were put in the same room, perfect! There were lots of butterfly moments for me, let me tell you ;) 

Right before training I had gotten a cast off of my left leg because I had broken my ankle. Again. (If you don't know I've broken somewhere around 12 bones, my left ankle bone 5 times and my right one 3 or 4 times, along with some toes and a collar bone, etc.) Now, either during the weekend or the very first part of the second week I was walking up the stairs to my dorm room in the evening. Somehow I misjudged or didn't see a step and fell, twisting my right ankle. Ms. Jane, who was pretty much my second mom while I was at training, called my mom and helped me into the car. The next day I went to get X-Rays to make sure I hadn't broken it. Thankfully I hadn't but wasn't able to walk on it. And because my left ankle was still weak from being in a cast for 6 weeks, there was no way I could have gone around on crutches - there is A LOT of walking at training. Enter - the trusty wheel chair! Mom took me back to training and they gave it to me to use so that I could get around. Nathan, being the only boy between our two small groups, was the gentlemen and began pushing me back and forth between small group times, meal times, and classes. He would help me get my food and clean up my dishes, he would always sit with me and I was. in. heaven. My little 14 year old heart had already begun to fall in love and there was no way I could stop it after spending almost the whole week with this handsome, kind, funny boy pushing me everywhere. We played "car" games together and had lots of fun. It was very sad when the week had to end...

At the end of training I was finally able to walk around some on my ankle and they ended up using "my" wheelchair in a skit a group of them did for our talent night. It was a hilarious skit and it went on for a few years in a row. Nathan was (the cutest) bad guy named "Sugar Rush" with his evil sidekick (a family friend of mine) "Disobedience Boy" (The skits were all about these two trying to mess up 5-day clubs by doing the things we had learned could happen and the super heroes, one of which was Acronym Man, would rescue the poor teachers.) Nathan used my wheelchair as a disguise for his evil character by dressing up as an old lady, haha! "Sugar Rush" would also gulp down energy drinks to fuel his evilness =O 

Everyone would also sign each other bags at the end and of course my dorm mates signed, Hope and Melody signed, and Nathan signed. Wanna know what he said? "You're crippled in more places than your ankle" What?? Are you serious?? Wow =P Such a romantic beginning... ;) I love that he did that though, makes me smile/laugh every time I remember! Mom says its like little boys when they throw rocks at little girls because they like them so much (Tim Hawkins quote anyone?). We were so silly =) 

My CYIA bag from 2007, lots of notes from lots of people, lots of memories...

Hard to read but here is the famous saying! "You're crippled in more places than your ankle"

That was pretty much how I fell in love with Nathan, although my love for him now is very different from then =) I know that he would say that was the year he noticed me (Obviously, unless he completely ignored the person in the wheelchair he was pushing =P) and knew he wanted to be my friend. =) In the next year our real friendship kind of took off. Next time we'll dive in there!

{Fine Print - I have done my very best to remember events how they happened and when they happened but I cannot say I am 100% on the when. I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't want to be penalized if the time table is somehow a little different then how I recorded it here. All I know is that the main events definitely happened and I really am faithfully recording how I felt when they happened. You've been warned ;) )

Until next time...