HILMM - Part 5: The Longest Two Weeks of My Life

After our hand-holding episode, I wasn't quite sure what to do. Darby and I hadn't really talked about any future plans. When he left Daniel's house, I said bye hurriedly, wanting to avoid any potential awkwardness in front of our friends. A couple of days later, I decided to call him to see if he wanted to go play putt-putt with a bunch of people from church. I left a message at his house but didn't hear back from him that night. I was kind of disappointed, but I figured he was already out with friends. (This was before everybody had cell phones...ah, the good old days).

I didn't hear from him the next day either, which I thought was kind of weird. Then, he wasn't at church on Sunday. I started asking around and found out that he had left for camp...for two weeks. I was so upset. He had told me that he was going to camp on Friday, but for some reason I thought he meant the next Friday. I was kicking myself for not telling him goodbye or at least solidifying things a little. I felt sure that he was going to fall in love with a girl at camp and forget all about me. (I was pretty dramatic back then...perhaps I still am). I expressed my concerns to his friend Cody, who made me feel a little better. He said, "When Darby likes someone, he's in it for the long haul." Still, I worried and worried, counting down the days until he came back.

The day he got back, he called me. The first thing he said was, "So, Cody told me you were afraid I wouldn't like you when I got back." I admitted that I had been worried. He said, "Don't worry. The whole time I just prayed and prayed that you would still like me." He had even written me a song at camp. We talked for a long time, and I felt good knowing that we had made the leap to actually talking about how we felt about each other.

When I look back, I laugh at how worried I was. I mean, it was only two weeks, but it sure felt like a lifetime to me at the time.