Our romance has begun

Wow, how do I say this? Or better yet, how do I say this without writing a post that takes an hour to read?

I suppose I should inform you that I have a new watch. It is currently wrapped around my left wrist as I type. It's very nice. How did I get it? Oh, well, it was recently given to me by my future father-in-law.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not gonna kid myself and pretend that you all don't already read the blog of my bride-to-be. Plus, it's a lot easier on me here in the present if I acknowledge that fact. So if you read her blog, you know pretty well what has transpired. If you haven't, allow me to introduce you to it: musingsofaservantprincess.blogspot.com. Go check it out; you'll have to scroll through a couple posts before you get to the one that talks about how this whole romance started. She does it far more concisely (and, I think, more dramatically, since she was the one that was surprised) than I ever could.

But, okay, I'm not just gonna cop out and tell you to go read her blog and that's the end of it. Not only would that not be right, but I don't want to do that. So let me make my formal introduction:

That I, Luke Timothy, sometime known as Sir Luke the Impossible, have begun to pursue a courtship relationship with Lana Marie, sometime known as Lady Lana the Adorable (I am inclined to agree with this assessment), effective as of 8:15 pm on Thursday, August 23. While this courtship status is not completely synonymous with engagement (the giving of a commemorative ring and the establishing of a wedding date being the chief absences), our commitment to enjoying one another's company for the remainder of our time here on Earth, within the bonds of marriage ultimately, is unwaveringly settled.

There's a sample of the pompous style, chiefly to amuse my beloved and myself (it is truly enjoyable to come up with big, official-sounding words to describe something such as this). In the Common Tongue, it reads:

I have begun to court Lana, with the intention of marrying her, as of last Thursday night. That's not the same thing as engagement, which will come later; but in our eyes engagement is little more than a formality.

A commitment to marriage is a wonderful thing to announce, but that's only half of it. You see, I am not merely committed to Lana; I am in passionate love with her, and have been since February 27, the day God allowed me to fall in love. That is of course, incidentally, exactly six months ago today.

On Thursday night, Lana's parents and I conspired to give her the surprise of her life and an evening that neither she nor I would ever forget. You can read her blog to see how the surprise (and romantic evening) progressed. After surprising her, I, well, stalled, then prayed, then asked if I could court her. I'll never forget the way she said in tearful happiness, "What can I say? I'd love to?"

Having established our commitment, we spent a long time talking and, yes, gazing into each other's eyes. It was wonderful beyond words to finally be able to speak to her freely about our future together, about how I had longed for this evening to come, about what we had gone through to get here.

There was something else very important that I had to tell her, but I put it on hold until it was almost time for us to go back inside her house. Even when it was time, I stalled. Finally, with the help of God, I was able to get the words out the way I had planned on; her blog features a more-or-less direct quote from what I told her. I then talked about February 27, what had specifically happened on that day, and how in a flash, God flung open the doors of my heart and allowed her to come in and claim it. At the end, I paused, not wanting to be in the slightest unclear, ready to utter the magical words that I had longed to say for so long. And then I did. "I love you."

With tears forming again, she searched my eyes for a moment, overwhelmed. Then she whispered, "I love you too."

I almost couldn't believe it. Maybe I'm naive, maybe I'm modest, but I somehow expected to have to do more to win her heart than that. It's her heart, after all! Her most prized possession. For so long she had guarded it, obeying the command of the woman in Song of Solomon: not to awaken love until it so desires.

And in that perfect moment, she gave her heart to me. Freely, willingly, abundantly. My pursuit of her didn't last long; she allowed me to catch her and claim her. And now she is mine, and I am hers.

So now, whenever we receive queries from various friends and acquaintances with knowing expressions on their faces, we can finally answer that, yes, we are a couple. Oh, yeah, I'm with her. Who is that? Oh, that's my bride-to-be. Are ya'll in love? Uh, you better believe it.

I love everything about this. Let me list some things:

1. I love how open we get to be with each other. The night I declared myself, I asked her how many kids she wanted in the ensuing conversation. She was taken off-guard, but it didn't make her uncomfortable. Since we know we're going to marry each other, that's a viable question. (If you're interested, we decided that we have plenty of time to figure out how many kids to have, and God'll give them to us in His timing.) There's no hinting, no beating around the bush, no playing with emotions. We belong to each other in heart and spirit, and there's nothing hidden.
2. I love her family. Her parents have been so awesome to me, even before I asked them if I could marry their daughter, and even more so since then. It was them who did most of the planning for our romantic opening evening. When I met with her dad to ask his blessing, I expected to be asked about finances and other important "for the future" issues. Nope. He said we could talk about stuff like that later; for now, he wanted me to know that he completely approved of me and as far as he's concerned, I'm like another son now. That means so much to me.
3. I love getting to go around with her and be with her and not be worried what anyone thinks, because what they're thinking is probably the truth. We got to spend most of the afternoon together last Saturday at Fan the Flame (and I promise I will post on that soon), and it was so awesome. Being an official couple absolutely rocks my face off.
4. I love the insanity of romance. Thinking about her seemingly every other moment (at minimum), calling her on the phone just to hear her voice, constantly checking my e-mail for another message from guess-who. It's such an incredible feeling.
5. I love having the knowledge that we both waited on God's timing and did things His way in this relationship -- and continue to do things in what we believe to be His way. If we and our families had very different beliefs about romance, we could have and probably would have ended up being a couple a long time ago. But even though we were meant for each other, it wouldn't have been right to do it then; that wouldn't have been God's timing. Now, because we have waited for this point, when we can commit to each other for life and fall in love, with our parents' full blessing to marry, everything is so much sweeter and more romantic than it would have been otherwise. We still haven't held hands yet, and boy do I want to, but we're going to talk to our parents and obey God's will on that.
6. I love God as the giver of all blessings and the ultimate romantic. I absolutely know that He revels in this kind of stuff. His goodness to me and Lana blows me away; He has orchestrated everything so perfectly for us as we begin the process of intertwining our two lives as one. He truly overwhelms me.
7. Ahh, you knew this was coming. I love Lana Marie, the girl of my dreams (literally). As I told her the other night, she is my true love, my first love, and my only love. By God's grace, though I haven't been perfect, I am able to present myself to my bride as a one-woman man. I am still blown away that she loves me so freely. I want to love her as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. I have an insatiable passion for her, and to my eternal joy, she finally knows it. In the four days of our courtship, she has already made me happier than I ever knew I could be. I love you, princess.

As you might be able to imagine, I'll have a lot more on Lana and our relationship in the future. I am looking forward to God using this beyond merely our two lives and those of our families, to be an encouragement to those who seek to wait on His plan for romance in their own lives. For now I will say to all of you: wait on Him and do it His way. I can promise you, because I have finally seen it true in my life: you will not be disappointed.