Prelude Part Two: The Chris of 1999.

Sidenote: Aren't you all so glad I have a SCANNER? hehe. Chris is going to kill me.

Chris was a Senior in High School when I first met him. He went to a school on the opposite end of town as me, so he was quite exotic. He, unlike me, had previously been in a serious relationship. He had experienced heartbreak.

Chris had recently become a Christian and had just started going to a little church in town with the guys from his band. He fell in love with the pastor's daughter, and they dated awhile. The relationship didn't work out, however, because Chris had made some poor choices and ended up hurting the girl he cared for. When it ended, he was crushed.

The guys in his band took him under their wing and really helped Chris through that difficult time. They all became really close, like brothers, and Chris started really wanting to give his whole life to God. It was a season of big change for him.

He says that he remembers seeing me that night when he played at my church and thinking I was cute. We didn't officially meet that night, though. After all, I was interested in Jesse (Chris' cousin), and Chris and Elizabeth were somewhat interested in each other as well, I think.

Our friends were all hanging out at our buddy Ryan's house one night, and I remember Chris being there. He was trying desperately to get my attention (read: doing front flips in Ryan's living room and landing flat on his back on the floor- knocking all of the wind out of him... repeatedly.), and I noticed him alright, but we still had only said a handful of words to each other in passing.

A couple of weeks later, we all found ourselves hanging out at our friend Adam's house- running around and being goofy. We all decided to sit down and watch a movie I remember Chris was sitting on the couch behind me, and I was leaning up against the fireplace. We still didn't really know each other at all. He was holding a bag of gummy worms in his hand.

He took a deep breath, aimed a gummy worm at my head, and threw with all his heart.

I snapped my head around to see who had thrown candy at me, and made direct eye contact with a grinning Chris.

I turned bright red, and immediately took the bait.

**to be continued...**

I liked him so much that I stuffed him in the
back of my car and drove away with him.

Prelude: The Emery of 1999

photo at left: Emery in 1999. (Shut. Up.)

The year was 1999. I was 16 years old, a Junior in High School living in Reno, Nevada. I was active in my Youth Group at church and had been the captain of my cheer squad for three years running. (*collective gasp!*) I had been in a handful of relationships throughout high school- none of them too serious. I was happy and carefree (as most pre-heartbreak teens tend to be), and my life consisted mostly of hanging out with my friends and school.

Around that time I began 'seeing' a guy named Jesse. He didn't go to my school, he had been home schooled, but some of my friends from church started hanging out with Jesse's friends, and I really liked him. He liked me too, and we were just starting to spend lots of time together and hang out one-on-one. He took me skiing, and I would go and watch his band "Employees Only" practice out at his parent's house. I remember Jesse even took a poem I had written and turned it into a song.

photo at right: Jesse playing with "Employees Only"... and a special guest drummer, Chris Clark.

He was always a perfect gentleman, he never even tried to kiss me, but he made it clear that he wanted to pursue me from the beginning. And Jesse wasn't into pointless relationships... he wanted it to be meaningful and lasting. I was excited about this, and things were going great.

The church I was going to hosted concerts of local bands every so often, and one Saturday night, a band called Martyr 2:10 was scheduled to come and play. A couple of the guys from Martyr 2:10 knew some of the guys from "Employees Only", Jesse's band.

In fact, Jesse's COUSIN was in Martyr 2:10. You can pretty much GUESS who that was...

The night that Martyr 2:10 came to play at my church, it was packed. Everyone was excited to see the fresh meat new band play. They were a ska band, and by the end of their first song, everyone was dancing and sweaty and having a grand old time.

My friend Rebecca mentioned that the drummer was really cute, and upon further inspection, I had to agree. Tall, fair skinned, bleached blonde hair spiked up upon his head. Lanky goodness.

photo at left: A young Chris, circa 1999, feigning surprise.

After that night, our friend groups merged. My good friend Elizabeth knew some of the guys in Martyr 2:10, and everyone started hanging out like one big happy family from that point on. Previously, Elizabeth had liked Jesse. I had sortof cut-in on her in that department. (I was a total jerk face and didn't even realize it.) After that, Elizabeth became interested in the drummer of Martyr 2:10. The drummer who was also the cousin of Jesse.

His name? Christopher Clark.

**to be continued...**

My Love Story.

A couple of you have asked to hear Chris and I's story, and I am more than happy to oblige you all, but there are a of couple things I have to throw out there first...

1. Chris and I dated for FIVE YEARS. I have really wanted to share our story with you guys ever since I started this blog, but the thought of trying to sum up those five to six years of my life was totally overwhelming. I pictured a post that was approximately eighteen miles long in my future. Blech. TOOOO MANY WORDS!

2. Then, I recently started reading along on Jen's Blog as she told the story of her and her husband Erick. She has been telling the story in CHAPTERS, which I think is absolutely brilliant and it has been fun and absorbing to read along and anticipate each new installment. So, I have now decided that if I am going to do this, I am going to SHAMELESSLY copy her idea and tell you all the story of Chris & I in similar, chapter-ly installments. (Um, is this OK, Jen? hehe.)

3. Does this sound like something you'd even want to read from me? If it's not, no need to comment-- if it is something you'd want to see on this blog, leave me a quick comment and let me know. The only reason I ask this is that it will be somewhat difficult for me to recall and relate all that happened in those tumultuous years of my life... I would only be up for it if it's something you guys are even interested in reading. If it's not, that's totally fine. If it is, let me know.

4. I would obviously be condensing the story quite a bit, but it would still be very emotionally-charged writing for me. Those years were difficult. Also, it will be hard to remember a lot of it... (I have the memory of a GNAT.) I'll probably need to scan through some old journals or something to kick start my memory again.

5. All in all, I think it would be really good and healing and helpful to me, if to no one else, to get this story out of my head and my heart and onto paper. It is a beautiful story, only because the ending is so reedeeming and full of life (life named Ezra), but I think even the rough patches could potentially be helpful to people who might find themselves in similar situations right now or in the future.

6. I'll have to make sure this is OK with my sweet husband first, as well. I have no doubt he'll give the 'go ahead', though. He has always believed (as do I) that our story is a powerful testimony to God's grace and love in our lives, and that it can be healing to people who have had their hearts steamrolled a time or two.

If enough of you are interested in this, I'll start right away. And I'll probably become hooked and write a million chapters an hour after that. hehe.


I'll end with this, a mini 'Operation Grow Hair!' update:

"Wowzah! Them's some legitimate ponytails!"
I couldn't have done this without you guys... THANK YOU TIMES INFINITY!!