3. Getting To Know You...

So we didn't ride off into the sunset on that first ride, but we did start riding horses together more often. Before that, however, as much as it pains me to think about it, the boyfriend came back into the picture. Remember how I said that I should've seen right through it when the boyfriend asked me to go to church with him that day? Well, I guess he took that as a little bit more than it was meant to be, because after that day, he was quite interested in pursuing my affections. I was more interested in the best friend of the boyfriend, however he didn't show in any way that he was even the slightest bit interested in me. It was frustrating. So here we have a twisted love triangle. I liked the best friend, whose best friend, (who was the ex-boyfriend of my best friend), liked me. If that wasn't confusing, I don't know what is!

2. How we met...

We first met when I was a sophomore in high school. I had started tenth grade at a small school, after being home-schooled. I became friends with a girl there named Leann, whom I had actually met before, at church camp. We started riding horses together (all the good things that have happened in my life seem to begin the same way... you'll see what I mean later.) This was January. It was cold. We became best friends in that cold, bonding over incidents like the time where Leann's cell phone fell out of her pocket while we were riding... we spent several frigid, tooth-chattering hours searching for it. I had so much fun with Leann. We spent almost every waking hour together for most of high school. And she had a boyfriend. His name is not important. What is important is that this boyfriend of hers had a best friend too.

1. Before I met him, my love life was...

... slightly turbulent. I had boyfriends on and off (but mostly on) from my sophomore year in high school, to when I met him. With a very short break in there somewhere... 
I was pretty concerned with the thought that I might never meet the perfect guy, and that I might be stuck settling for someone with only some  of the requirements on my (rather long) list. If I recall correctly, there were three or four young men that took me on what might be considered "dates" in that period of 5 or 6 years. Maybe more. I try not to think about it. There was (what was supposed to be) a six month break in there somewhere, when I went traipsing off to Africa to be guy-less, which went great until I met a guy. It didn't work out, obviously. 
<--- Creepy picture of me in Africa with 187 braids.