Synopsis of chapters 1-3

At SaturnRising’s suggestion, I am briefly highlighting chapters 1-5 for those who may not have read the entire saga or the abbreviated version on the Romantic Experiences forum below. (I pulled chapters 2-4 to preserve our identification.) I have emailed the missing chapters to those who have asked but as Saturn indicated, many don’t email due to personal boundaries, which I totally respect. I may reinstate them after we are sufficiently recovered so that it does not matter if friends/family identify us….most likely they will already know.

Chapter 1:

I was an active HS and college student who occasionally dated and had crushes on guys but never had a boyfriend. My self image gradually diminished as ‘friend-boys’ always seemed to view me like a ‘little sister’ instead of girlfriend potential. It seemed like my ‘self-imposed vow of chastity until marriage’ would be easy to uphold.

Chapter 2:

I had only 3 thoughts of what I desired in a boyfriend/husband: 1) Love God and have a desire to help people. 2) Don’t smoke, drink, gamble, cuss or chew (or hang out with those who do) 3) play the guitar or piano and sing to me. (Pretty shallow, but that was it! If I had had the knowledge MB offered, the list would have been much different.) In my sophomore year, a 6'4" campus stud threw me over his shoulder, showing off in front of his jock-friends, but when I pounded on his back and called him the wrong name, he dumped me in the snow bank. The following semester, we had a class together and I discovered he had most of the above attributes.

Chapter 3:

We started walking to lunch together after that class. I enjoyed the attention but many things about him repelled me. But it was nice to start to entertain thoughts of a relationship with a guy who did NOT view me as a ‘little sister’. We began going to an off-campus church together. One day when we went out for a Bible study, he said “God told me to marry you.” Although I did not love him, I reluctantly said “OK” because at age 19 and after what felt like numerous rejections, I was afraid of being left behind alone.