The quick version is that a year later, I still love my job and am still learning new things each day. Right before I moved from Atlanta, I was talking to a friend of mine and telling her about my new job back home and she said, "You know, your life has really come full circle. You started out in Jackson working in HR and you're going back to Jackson to work in HR." I hadn't really thought about it that way, but boy was she right. I love my job and absolutely believe that I've (finally) found what I enjoy. Such a blessing!
As if I hadn't been blessed enough by a new job and a new house all within a few short months of each other, God was getting ready to blow my socks off. My friend, Amy, had mentioned to me a couple of YEARS prior to me moving back that she and her friend Paige wanted to set me up with this guy named Joseph who was an Engineer at Nissan. I thought it was real sweet of them, but I didn't think much about it considering I was still in Atlanta with no real plan/timeframe of coming home. I was not at all interested in a(nother) long distance relationship. Plus, I wasn't a huge fan of dating in general. I pretty much hated it. You get dressed up, you go out, they say/do something stupid and within 20 minutes you come to the realization that it would have been so much easier to have stayed in your pajama pants and ordered a pizza. Seriously.
It wasn't until after multiple dates such as the example above that I was beginning to come to terms with the fact that I was pretty comfortable with being by myself. I have a great family, great friends, a good job, and a cute house. Then, August 2010 rolled around. Amy called to tell me that the mysterious Joseph was single and it was time for her and Paige to set us up. Once I gave her the go ahead, it took approximately half an hour (kidding) for him to ask me to be his friend on Facebook. It took appoximately half a second for me to pull up his picture and determine I definitely needed to meet him. Trying not to come across as completely desperate, I read his message and decided to wait at least (almost) 24 hours before responding. That was August 19...by Monday (August 23), we had our first date.
I will never forget calling Amy on my way to Julep to tell her that I did NOT want to go and that I couldn't believe I let her put me up to this. The first date turned into a second within the same week. Within 6 weeks he asked me to go to New York with him. Within 3 more weeks, he told me he loved me for the first time. 7 months to the day of our first correspondence on Facebook, he asked me to be his WIFE!
To say that my life has come full circle is without a doubt the truth. My heart is FULL every day because I get to spend the rest of my life with a man who loves the Lord and loves me so genuinely and completely. When I look back on all of the times when I was sad or mad or jealous that I wasn't dating anyone - that all of my friends were getting married and having babies and moving forward without me, I know now that God was preparing me for so much more than I could ever have dreamed.
