Once upon a time, in a place called Florida, there was a boy and a girl who grew up on opposite sides of the state…
My life was pretty simple and rooted, growing up. I was born in Tampa and moved just barely north of Tampa to Wesley Chapel when I was 5 or 6 years old. Around that same time, my family also moved to a new church called Northwest Baptist in Tampa. My mom homeschooled all of us, myself and my 3 siblings, and my dad worked hard to provide for us. I grew up on Patch the Pirate music and Disney movies. My whole social life revolved around Northwest, where all my friends went to church. As we grew up and some of my friends, who were a couple years older than me, graduated and started college, the school of choice was typically Clearwater Christian College.
Michael’s life was a little bit more adventurous because his family tended to move a lot. He was born in Chattanooga TN, then moved to Deltona FL, then to Savannah GA, then back to Deltona, then to Port Saint Lucie FL (I probably got those out of order or left one out but you get the general idea). Because of all the moves, he grew up going to several different schools and was also homeschooled for a short time. He had 2 siblings, his mom taught in the schools that they attended, and his dad worked in many different capacities, depending on the needs of the family and the area they were in at the time. Their family also grew up on Patch the Pirate and Disney when they were young. His social life as a teenager revolved around his church and school in PSL where they also favored Clearwater Christian College.
So here is where East Florida met West Florida…
Clearwater Christian College was a relatively small school and was not affiliated with a specific church. They did, however, require their students to attend a local, approved church every Sunday. My church, Northwest, was on that list. Some friends who had started at CCC became acquainted with Michael’s circle of friends, so they invited them to come visit the church.
At this time, around 2001, I was still a lowly high schooler among the cool college group and, being naturally a bit introverted, was a little intimidated to join in a lot of the activities of the group. I did enjoy hanging out with them occasionally, but generally kept more to myself and my few close friends.
Michael, on the other hand, was more confident and was an upperclassmen, as compared to most of the group. He drove a bright red Firebird, he was known for his crazy Hawaiian shirts, he was smart, he was funny…a little nerdy but hey, that just made him fun! I never had a crush on him back then but I did have a kind of fascination with his personality and confidence. Every Sunday morning, during the Baptist tradition of handshaking during the second verse of the 3rd hymn, I always made it a point to search him out and shake hands with the typical “Hi, how are you?” Honestly, I don’t know why this was important to me, but it was, and I always noticed when he was missing and would wonder where he was. Come to find out, years later, he was doing the same thing.
That was pretty much the extent of our “relationship” back then. Just a bunch of “Hi, how are you?”s, the occasional Sunday afternoon at the Brownlee’s house, and a couple random activities with the group. There was no romantic allure, though I will admit that I was a little jealous when I heard that he had taken a couple other friends out for a fast ride in his car and I wasn’t invited. He had girlfriends off and on and I had school and work, it was just too weird for a junior in college to be interested in a junior in high school. We continued this trend for about a year and a half until he graduated and stopped coming to Northwest.
Fast forward about 4 years to 2005, and life looked different for both of us. I was now teaching full time, Northwest had closed, and he was working full time in Tampa. Because we had never established a relationship or real friendship, we hadn’t kept in touch at all and our paths hadn’t crossed.
On the weekend of February 4-5th, I made plans to have my best friend spend the weekend with me and have some girl time. It was intended to be a go out to dinner, movies in PJs, snacks, and hanging out weekend. So you can imagine my surprise when late Saturday night, Rachel says “Hey, remember Mike Herchenroder from CCC? I was talking to him online the other day, and he mentioned that he was looking to visit a new church so I invited him to go with us in the morning.” I was so not happy. It was supposed to be a ‘let your hair down’ weekend, not a ‘hang out with a boy that you don’t even really know’ weekend. But what could I say? He was already invited and the plans were made.
Sunday morning came and Rachel and I got ready and headed to church. He was walking in the parking lot when we got to Faith Baptist (the church affiliated with the preschool where I was working) and greeted us with “Good morning, ladies. You are looking beautiful today.”
Nothing significant happened that day, though I did get the distinct feeling that there was more to this set up than just happenstance. Rachel was definitely attempting some match making, which was somewhat fun but also a little annoying since I had decided that I was not interested in boys at that time. But it was fun, and we had a good time over Publix subs after church and then he left us to the rest of our afternoon. I never thought I would see him back the next week. He lived about an hour from the church so that drive was crazy, and I didn’t think he was or would be interested in me enough to make that kind of commute every weekend.
To my surprise, the next week, (12 years ago today!) he was back again. No Rachel this time, I was on my own with this boy, and I was a little intimidated but flattered that he was back again. We went out to lunch with my family to Applebee’s and it was amazing how easily the conversations flowed. Again, I tend to be an introvert, so I struggle to be comfortable with new people, especially guys back when I was single. But he just seemed to fit into our crew seamlessly and comfortably.
After lunch, we went back to the house where he got to meet my brand new puppy that I had just rescued on Friday, Cupid. We played with Cupid and talked and hung out all afternoon. Again, the ease of conversation was remarkable and I was so pleased to be able to relax around him and feel like myself.
Here is the crazy part.
Back then, my family was going to a different church from me and had obligations at their church that afternoon. Without a second thought, they all got ready for church and left 2 hours before Michael and I had to leave for evening services at Faith. That may not seem like a big deal to most people but I grew up old fashioned and leaving single guys and girls alone in a house was a definite no-no. I guess it just felt so relaxed and natural to have him in the house that it just never occurred to anyone. They had been gone a while and we had been just hanging out in the living room talking when it got quiet and suddenly we realized that we probably shouldn’t be there alone. I quickly got ready and we headed over to the church for the rest of the afternoon and evening service.
After church, I began to internally panic. My parents were still in service and 30 minutes away. I couldn’t take the boy back to my house alone but, he had driven me to church. I felt bad to ask him to take me home and leave. My solution was to suggest that we get something to eat, in hopes that my parents would be home before we were done. He agreed and we decided to try the new place down the street, Johnny Carino’s.
Again, we had an incredibly strong connection and even talked about it while we were there. It just felt easy to look in each others eyes. There was this inexplicable sense of trust that was so premature but so instinctual. Conversation was easy and flowing, the food was good, the atmosphere was relaxing,…the only problem? My cell phone rang after we had been there quite a while and my heart hit the floor when I saw it was my dad. Instantly, I realized I had forgotten to tell him that we were going out and that I would be home late. I was half afraid that my dad was going to be mad at me and half embarrassed in front of this guy that my dad was calling me to find out what was going on. Thankfully, Dad was completely fine with it and found it somewhat funny that I had forgotten to call him. He asked to talk to Michael and I held my breath waiting to hear what was being said. Again, my fear was put to rest though, when Michael took it in stride and my dad was only asking him to let him know when we had plans in the future.
After that, we were basically inseparable every Sunday. The bond between us was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. There was a deep connection and instantaneous friendship that defied my shyness, our differences, and the short time we had been together. We didn’t know then that it would be the start of our life together and the beginning of our own family, but we knew there was something special happening and we were enjoying every minute of it as it unfolded.
