Sarah and Adam’s Story

June 16, 2005

[Sarah, Rob, Becca and Mark - this is the day I met Sarah...after the conference, I kept checking this picture and looking at it and thinking "Damn that girl is so cute!"]

This is a story. A funny story. A story of the day that Sarah and Adam met. I like this story. I like it because it’s a)funny; b)our story; c)shows how crazy it is that Sarah and I are now in love!

I’m from Washington state and I go to school in New Jersey. Sarah is from New York and goes to school in Georgia. How in the HECK did we even meet? Well, let me tell you: Sarah is at the FTE Conference this week. Last year, she and I both applied for the Ministry Fellows Fellowship, and we both received it, which is what is funding both of our summers currently. We met at last summer’s FTE Conference in Pasadena, CA. But it wasn’t one of those “Hi, I’m Adam, what is your name?” kind of meetings, it is way better than that. Oh, you want to know the story? Okay.

It was probably the second day, and I saw Sarah talking to some people. I thought, “Very cute girl…I should introduce myself.” I walked over, said hi, and she looked at my name tag (they had our names, and seminaries on the name tag). Sarah said, “So…why Princeton?”

I then proceed into a long schpeel about how I came from a very conservative evangelical school and was desiring a school that was more liberal, and that would have a broader theological spectrum to give me some diversity. When I’m done, Sarah is still just sort of staring at me, and she says, “Ummm, so WHY Princeton?”

She ticked me off.

So then she and I ended up sitting next to each other at the next seminar on youth ministry. And I was torn throughout the entire thing. I was still mad at her, “How DARE she insult my seminary or try to tell me that it wasn’t a very ‘open’ or ‘diverse’ school?” But…she was soooo cute. And I didn’t know what to do - and it was bothering me.

After that seminar, I walked into the main lecture hall and sat down on the right side by myself. Within a few minutes, she was walking over toward me and came and sat down next to me. So, by now, I decided that being torn was stupid…forget it. This girl was HOT…so, I wasn’t mad at her anymore. We sat through that lecture, small talked a bit, and then walked over toward lunch, and ended up sitting together at a table by ourself (though I think someone joined us after a bit) - but I was so stoked because now I was having LUNCH with this very very cool girl. And then she dropped it…

“So, my boyfriend….”

Ahhhh! The cutest girl here and of course…she has to have a boyfriend. Well…I can still be friends with her, that’s cool. It’s always good to know of other cool people out there in seminary.

So we hung out that day, and that night at dinner (when the above picture was taken) and then a big group of us went out for drinks later that night. She was pretty interested in the .bE service, and so we talked about that a lot, and shared pictures, and I found out she was a Mac user, and she was hilarious, and she was fun, and we laughed a lot, and sat at the end of the table talking…it was awesome.

So that was that. I thought, “Well, too bad she has a boyfriend, but…at least I made a new friend…” After she left, we communicated by email for a good solid month, and these were pretty long emails (by Hotmail length standards, we’re talking 16kb-long emails here). And after each email, I realized that she was cooler and cooler. We had some great exchanges about alt.worship stuff and spirituality, and lots of other good stuff.

And then she started summer Greek and I didn’t hear much from her (oh, she still had a boyfriend…) and then I had to drive across the country, and I talked to Sarah quite a few times as I was driving through torrential downpours, and I just remember really enjoying talking to her.

We didn’t really keep in touch when school began, but then I ended up going down to Columbia Seminary (where she goes to seminary) for a conference on Israeli-Palestinian issues, and I thought, “Hey, I could stay with my friend Sarah - she’s fun…” So I stayed with her, and as Sarah said, “it was all kosher.” I slept on the couch, hung out with her and her friends and our mutual friend Mark and attended the conference. It was really fun to hang out with Sarah and her friends, and a few weeks later, when I was no longer dating someone, Sarah and I got back in touch with one another (thanks iChat).

And then a spring break trip to Florida (with a lovely 5 day pitstop in Atlanta) took place, and again, I thought, “Yes, I think I really do want to see Sarah again…that would be a very good thing.” As she no longer had a boyfriend, and I was not dating anyone this time, we had a great time together (again, I have to thank Jake for the movie Rockstar - it’s a great first date movie, we watched it the first night I got down there…), and…well…then came the awkward, “So…what now Adam?” And we both decided it was worth it to try……long-distance dating (gasp!). But it’s true. Sarah was worth it. Completely worth it. More than worth it. And we did long-distance
date…and we are…and it’s hard, but she is completely worth it, and it’s amazing…

The funny thing is that the woman who basically runs the FTE deal definitely talked about “that” couple who will hook up at FTE and start dating, and…get married. Hmmm. Well, I’m pretty okay with being “that” FTE couple…especially since it’s with Sarah Walker. So, we both owe a ton to FTE. Thanks FTE!

I love you Sarah…for her version of the story, click here.

Posted in General

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