It all began six years ago, when I was living in Carroll Park Student Housing on McCart Avenue in Fort Worth, TX while I was going to school at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Looking back I feel like I was always in a rush. I was either going to class, practicing the piano, or going to one of three jobs I held at any given time. It was also six years ago when I opened up my back door one spring morning to go off to one of things I was always rushing to when I saw him walking across the sidewalk that led from my apartment to the parking lot. He was headed to my neighbor and friend’s apartment. I had never before seen Tanya’s boyfriend, the mysterious Paul, who was apparently the greatest thing ever. But today, as I opened my door, there he was. The only words exchanged were probably “Hello.” However I thought to myself, “Tanya’s lucky. He’s pretty cute.”

And that was it. I went about my business and thought nothing more of him, for the most part.

Tanya and I would sometimes talk about their relationship, and I would wonder to myself why in the world she was dating him. He was going to be a missionary and she was…well, not. And that was the extent of my thinking about this boyfriend of my friend.

The spring semester ended and I was filled with excitement. The summer was going to be filled with new things. Well, really three weeks of new things. I went off on a three week adventure to Oxford, England with a group of students and professors from the seminary. I could spend countless posts writing about that trip. But I was not the only one having adventures that summer. Good friends were off working camp. Tanya was in Ireland. Another group of people, including Tanya’s boyfriend, went to China. When everyone returned from their grand adventures, stories were shared, pictures were shown, and break-ups happened, including Tanya and her cute missionary boyfriend. Was this really the end of them?