Our Love Story: Part 10

Preface: If you’ve missed any of the “chapters” of our love story so far, go back & get caught up before continuing below!
Part 1 — Part 2 — Part 3 — Part 4 — Part 5 — Part 6 — Part 7 — Part 8 — Part 9

Sunday morning at the Lake House brought church, followed by another beautifully sunny day. Derrick & I went out in the canoe again for one last “spin” around the inlet and no life-altering questions were asked during that ride.

Typically, on a beautiful, warm, sunshiney day, my family stays as late Sunday afternoon as they possibly can. Home is only a 2-hour drive back, after all, so normally on such a beautiful day, we would have stayed at the Lake until at least dinner time. This weekend though, since my Dad & brother were waiting back home for us, we packed up the van to head home a bit earlier than usual.

On the way home, my Mom stopped at Jumonville – a Christian campground that sits on the very top of Dunbar’s Knob (basically, a giant mountain that stands as the midway point between Deep Creek Lake & home).

Jumonville is probably most notably known for its steel cross, that appears white when the sun reflects off of it. It is 60 feet tall and has been at the top of the mountain since 1950. It’s quite a hike to get up to the cross, but on a clear day, they say you can see 3 states & up to 50 miles away.

Mom decided that a stop in Jumonville & a hike up to the cross would be fun (and I secretly think she wanted to show off the sights a little bit to Derrick too). It was the perfect day for a hike – warm enough that we were all huffing & puffing by the time we made it to the top of the hill, but not quite clear enough for us to see 50 miles.

(how’s this for a fantastic photo of us? it’s the only one I have of us from that stop in Jumonville)

Quick stop over, we headed home. That night, after dinner, Derrick finally had the chance to talk to my Dad. He might have spent the entire weekend with (most of) my family, but he wanted to make his intentions about our relationship clear to my Father.

Derrick spent Sunday night back over in my Grandparent’s guest room and before we knew it, it was Monday morning. I had to work that day, so dressed in my KFC uniform (and probably smelling like fried chicken – that smell simply never washed out), I took Derrick back to the train station. It was early and the drive up to Latrobe was quick – too quick.

This time, saying goodbye was different. While the first weekend we spent together was slightly awkward & not completely fulfilling, this weekend had been easy going & fun. The first weekend we had spent together, we had only known each other for a month & during that month, we had only communicated thru email. This time, we had known each other for almost 3 months, and our relationship was deepening via our emails, our phone calls, and now another weekend spent together.

The goodbye after our first weekend together was sad, but more from regrets over being shy around each other & not spending more time getting to know each other. The goodbye after this weekend was sad, but more from the fact that we weren’t sure when the next time we’d see each other would be. And thanks to our ever-deepening & growing friendship, the time stretched out like a black hole. This goodbye was different too because instead of saying goodbye as just a guy & girl trying to get to know each other, we were saying goodbye as an official boyfriend & girlfriend.

As much as we knew we’d miss each other, we knew that the month of August would fly by. Just two days after I dropped Derrick off at the train, my family spent the day at Idlewild Park for the Norwin Community Picnic. And just two days after that, my family headed down to the Outer Banks for a week of vacation.

When the train dropped Derrick off on the other end of the state, he found himself slammed with a crazy work schedule, moving into his new dorm at college, and getting ready for his very last semester of school.

On the way down to the Outer Banks, my family stopped at Busch Gardens. Having now been officially indoctrinated by my roller coaster obsessed boyfriend, I took lots of photos & enjoyed every single moment of riding the coasters. I was so excited & tried to take everything about the park in to be able to tell him about later – and rub it in his face that I had ridden a coaster that he so desperately wanted to ride (Griffon). In fact, I even called him while we were waiting in line for Griffon – just to share the excitement!

Derrick had made me promise to ride in the front row of Griffon so that I could report back just how amazing it was. That night, I wrote him a quick email letting him know that Amy, Emma, & I had indeed ridden in the front row: “Amy says to tell you that she “loves you” for “making” us ride in the front of Griffon.. even though Emma really wanted to just get in the shorter line and ride in the 2nd or 3rd row again. It was totally a different ride from the front A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!”

My family’s week at the beach was perfect. It was relaxing and full of sand, sun, and water. On our way home, I overheard Ruby & Stephen talking in the backseat. Ruby was playing with these little blocks & she mentioned that she really wished someone would play with her. Stephen asked her who she wanted to play with, and after a moment of thinking, she responded (with a smile in her voice): “Derrick”.

My siblings were obviously smitten with Derrick. They seemed to talk about him more than I did (which was alright by me!) I didn’t talk to Derrick very much on the phone that week, but every time I did, they would all come scrambling and screaming that they wanted to talk to him too!

Getting home from the beach brought the start of college classes – for both myself & Derrick. We were both also working full time, so suddenly our time to chat on the phone or write emails was cut way down. In fact, a lot of our conversations revolved around how tired we were & making fun of each other for yawning after every few words.

Needless to say, as the beginning of September & Labor Day Weekend approached, not only did we look forward to the time off to rest, but it provided another opportunity to see each other.

As it turned out, Paul & Naomi were planning on heading up to NEPA again to spend the extended weekend with the Abbey’s and they invited me to ride along. Conveniently, a certain tall, handsome college student was also planning to go home over Labor Day.

Friday afternoon arrived & once again I found myself squished into the backseat of Paul & Naomi’s car. If I had been excited to go away for the 4th of July weekend, I was ecstatic to be going to spend Labor Day with the Abbey’s. Feeling more comfortable & confident going into the weekend, Paul, Naomi & I talked and laughed the miles away.

About half-way there, we stopped at McDonald’s for some dinner. Naomi suggested that she drive since Paul had not only been up super early that morning, but worked a super long day. He tried to protest, but his yawns gave away just how tired he was. A little bit apprehensively, he agreed. As he moved to the back seat & I moved to the front seat, he asked: “Do you know where you’re going?”

Naomi was so confident, “Of course! We’ve driven up to your parents how many times now? I know how to get there! It’s easy!”

Paul didn’t seem so sure, but he agreed that Naomi should know the way. He reminded her of the key roads she needed to look for and we set off. Before long, Paul was snoozing in the back, and Naomi & I were having the time of our lives cruising down the highway. We both kept repeating the name of the next road we were looking for and figured with two people watching, there was no way we could miss it.

The night was dark & as we drove, fewer & fewer cars were with us on the highway. We talked and laughed and giggled away the miles – without a care in the world. We knew we still had at least 2 ½ hours to go, so we just kept driving (every once in a while, mentioning to the other that we were still watching for signs for our upcoming turn).

Paul slept, Naomi drove, and I co-piloted for about 90 minutes. That was about the time that Naomi & I started to realize that we probably should have turned by now. We started really studying the road signs & wondering aloud at the places they were advertising. I had only made the trip up to the Abbeys’ house once, but Naomi had made it multiple times, and suddenly she started to get nervous, commenting that the names of the towns we were passing weren’t familiar at all.

Not wanting to wake Paul up, we continued driving. Something familiar had to be coming up soon, right?

Paul stirred in the back seat & groggily woke up, asking where we were. We had to answer honestly: we didn’t know. That answer woke him up pretty quickly and then there were 3 of us studying the road signs and wondering where in the world we were.

Signs for a rest stop appeared and we pulled in. It was late, dark, and deserted, but thankfully the bathrooms were still accessible and we were able to find a map. A bright red dot proclaimed “You are here!”

And that’s when we realized: “here” was nowhere near where we were supposed to be. We were lost.

..Part 11 coming soon!