Love is an Extraordinary Choice
Sarah Christensen
When my sister and I were little we loved hearing the story of how my dad proposed to my mom. We would ask my mom to tell us as we were washing dishes or she was combing our hair. We watched their engagement video multiple times. The story had us completely enamored and enthralled. Even though we were probably 4 and 6 at the time we knew a story of true love when we heard it. My parents love story is still being told after almost 20 years of marriage and I have seen few couples so devoted and committed to each other.
April 28, 1995 is the day our story begins. Sam and Kerri had been really good friends for a year and they had been dating for 6 months, since October. They say, “Our friendship caught fire.” The 28th was a fairly normal day; Sam came from his apartment to Kerri’s to have breakfast. My mom said in an essay she wrote, in college, about the proposal, “Looking back I can see I should have picked up something in those pale blue eyes of his, but at the time I was busy worrying about my up coming chemistry quiz that morning.” Unfortunately, my mom told me, that she totally bombed the Chemistry quiz, which is understandable considering the events of the day. After breakfast my dad handed her a small wrapped package. She said my dad was and is a very romantic guy so she didn’t think much of it at first. Inside the package was a framed verse, Joshua 24:15- “As for me and my household we will serve the Lord” and a small pink card promised that he would always put God first in the relationship. My dad left but then exactly 1 hour later their friend Ryan showed up with an identical card and package. This package was a small floral print album and a card that promised to “put family before ministry, career, and friends.” My mom said when she realized that he was proposing, she got out her bible, got on her knees, and prayed. This points to the most important and amazing thing in their relationship that they both looked to God for guidance before anyone else. My mom says she knew that this was the man God had for her and she made her choice. Almost 20 years later she laughs and says “best decision ever, second only to my salvation”. Mom was late to class only to find her best friend Betz sitting outside her chemistry class patiently waiting with another identical package and card. This package promised to keep their love and relationship growing. Inside was a package of Spinach seeds. Spinach seems like an odd choice but it meant a lot to my mom. She said, “ Sam hates spinach with a passion, and I love it. I once tried to fix it in a casserole for him and his response was that because he loved me and was considering spending the rest of his life with me he would take one taste. With a simple package of Spinach seeds, he was telling me he was willing to put my desires ahead of his.” The next package arrived at 11 a.m.. Another friend Joe dropped of the package at theater class. In this card my dad promised he would always try to make her feel secure and the package contained a lock and key. At 12 p.m. another friend Christy brought a card promising my dad would continue dating my mom all of their lives with two long candlesticks attached. My dad had carefully pieced together my mom’s schedule for thewhole day and each hour until the spring banquet that night a friend brought her a gift and a promise. 10 promises on the day of the proposal. The 7th package was delivered by Melissa, it was a thermometer with a card that promised he would always be by her side in sickness. Then at 3 p.m. while my mom was decorating for the banquet, Alisha brought the 8th package. In the card, my dad promised to also be by her side in health and in the package was an apple. My mom’s eyes still sparkle when she tells me about the 9th gift. This one was her favorite she always says. A friend Bobby delivered it and in the card my dad promised he wouldn’t look at another woman. The package contained a pair of sunglasses. My mom said, “I removed the sunglasses from the box and tried them on for fun. Then I realized why the glasses were so unusually dark- the lenses had been spray painted black and not even a speck of light shown through”. My dad himself delivered the 10th and final package. He gave her a long stemmed rose and a card promising he would love her with all of his heart.
That night was the night of the Spring Banquet for the Baptist Student Union where my dad would be honored as a graduate. He delivered the tenth package and card and they went to the banquet. Each graduate was introduced through a funny skit and went to the stage to say a few words. My mom always stops the story here and says, “This is at a banquet for 300 people and you know your dad can sing, he has a beautiful voice. How many times have you heard him sing over your lifetime? By himself up in front of people? He never sings in public.” She continues the story saying, he got up on stage, went to the piano bench, and pulled something out. He took the microphone, very nervous and asked the crowd, “Have any of you ever come to a time when your tongue just curls up in your throat?” Then music began and he said looking at my mom, “Kerri this is how much I love you” He began to sing If You Could See What I See by Geoff Moore. My mom says his singing meant so much because it meant, “he would sacrifice his fears, his desires to do anything for us”. The song he sang is so beautiful I included the lyrics at the end of this story. My dad walked over to my mom as he was singing and on the last line of the song he got down on one knee. Early he had pulled a ring box out of the piano bench and he looked into her eyes and proposed. My mom threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. They got a standing ovation and as in all great love stories that was only the begining.
Choice and Commitment are big in our family and in my parent’s relationship. When I interviewed my mom about the proposal story she said, “Love is a choice and a commitment” over and over because it is such an important thing in any relationship. Coming up on their 20 year anniversary my parents Sam and Kerri Christensen are, “even more in love and committed to each other.” My parents have had good/bad, rich/poor, and sick/health moments. My mom says, “What is so beautiful about the proposal and promises now is that he has kept everyone for almost 20 years.” She says that love is a choice, you choose it, then you choose to make it extraordinary.
If you could see what I see
Geoff Moore and The Distance
All of my life
I have dreamed
That somehow love would find me
Now I can’t believe you’re standing here
If beauty is all
In the eye
Of the beholder then I
Wish you could see
The love for you that lives in me
(Chorus)
And you would know you have my heart
If you could see, what I see
That a treasure’s what you are
If you could see, what I see
Created to be
The only one for me
If you could see, what I see
I know there are days
When you feel
So much less than ideal
Wondering what I see in you
It’s all of the light
And the grace
Your belief in me drives me to say
That I promise you
A faithful love, forever true
(Chorus)
If you could see
Then you’d understand
Why I fall down to my knees
And I pray my love
Will be worthy of
The one who gave his life
So our love could be
If you could see
What I see (x2)
You’re created to be
The perfect one for me
If you could see
What I see
If beauty is all
In the eye
Of the beholder then I
Am beholding...
True beauty