I arrived in Texas on August 9th after a very quick, uneventful transit from Norfolk via Atlanta. Rebecca and her dad picked me up and we went out for lunch. After this point, I can't even really remember everything that went on. It was all so wonderful (and so long) that it really ran together.
We did have our first date on that visit, on August 11, 2008. =) We went to the Arlington Highlands, an outdoor mall with a winding stream and park benches and nice landscaping. We walked around for a while and then went to Mimi's Café, which turned out to be a rather nice little French restaurant. It was admittedly a little bit weird at first to be completely alone...no chaperones, no one else around but strangers. But by the end of the night, we were enjoying each other's company greatly. It was a very sweet first date.
Rebecca actually liked our second one a bit better though. We started to go the Highlands again, but couldn't find a TGI Fridays, which is where we were going to eat. Upon leaving the Highlands to find one, I spotted a Sweet Tomatoes and made a snap decision to eat there. Rebecca loved it. She just loved the whole evening. She said she was more comfortable, she loved the restaurant, and she just had a great time. =)
And so things kinda ran together. I went to Chuck Swindoll's church with Rebecca and Allison on Sunday, which was cool. He didn't preach, but it was still neat to go there. Rebecca had to work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I typically stayed home and hung out with the family until she got back, at which point we would go on a date. Tuesday and Thursday were days she didn't work, so we generally spent those running around together doing errands.
One amusing side note is that nearly every time Rebecca and I were outside together, we ended up getting in a water fight. The Craigs have a small kiddie pool filled in the back yard....and the accessible water was frequently just too much to resist. ;-) I think we were quite amusing to the rest of the family.
I greatly enjoyed getting to know Rebecca's whole family better. They're really a sweet family. Courtney (age 6) loved to have tickle wars with me, which Joshua (age 3) liked to get in on occasionally. I shared a room with Daniel (age 13) on a bed which Mrs. Craig had bought specifically for me! :o She said I would be there frequently enough anyway...they might as well buy me a bed. Josh can use it after I get done with it in a couple years. I was quite shell-shocked by her generosity. I had not expected that at all, but it was a real blessing.
Another cool experience was going with Mr. Craig on a tour of a very large steel manufacturing plant...one of the largest in the country, in fact. I was quite impressed with the whole process. The heat coming off the molten metal was particularly impressive. It felt like an oven some 30 feet away. While I'm not interested in going into the steel industry for a career, it was a very informative experience. I thought it was quite amazing that our tour guide was none other than the VP of operations there....which you can bet doesn't happen much! It was really cool of Mr. Craig to invite me along on that tour and I really appreciated it.
I left Texas on August 18, which was a somewhat depressing experience. It didn't really hit me until I was actually sitting at my gate that I was gone. *sigh* Sometimes I hate long distance. But I have a good motivation....I'm off to slay the dragons of the semesters of Fall 2008, Spring 2009, and Fall 2009. After those dragons are dead, we can (God-willing) get married. The visit was wonderful....just a small taste of what future life together will be like. =) Hopefully Rebecca and her parents will come visit me in the next month or two, which will likely be the next time I see her. I can't wait! =D
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