Scott Keen's Books: From My Wife's Perspective...

Tomorrow’s our anniversary, and so Scott asked me if I wanted to write my perspective of how our “Love Story Beginning” went down. I loved what he wrote, but it is always nice to be able to tell “my side” so here goes…

First, though, to clarify: when Scott was moving in and my roommate and I were just waving from another apartment porch, it was because he had four other people with him (his parents, sister, and brother-in-law)! We didn’t think he needed any extra help – we’d just be in the way, really. ;)

Back to the real story… Scott and I did become close friends really quickly, and yes, I actually did kind of like him. However, I’m not the type to let myself fall head over heels for someone who thinks of me only as a friend. There was this weird, cool moment though a week or so after we first met, though:

My job was working in the scene shop on campus which was, at that time, being moved to a new location and so all the tools were packed up. My boss had asked us to bring in our own measuring tapes until we got everything unpacked. I didn’t have one at the time, but I was talking about this with Scott, and he mentioned that he had one and said that I could borrow it. I went over to his room with him to get it, and while he was rummaging for it, I had the strangest feeling. It was like the Holy Spirit was speaking to me and what I heard was “There is going to be more to your relationship.” It was so strong, it was unnerving. Then, Scott gave me his measuring tape, and life went on.

Fast forward a few days, I think, and Scott and I are walking somewhere, and he says to me, “I think I like someone.” Well, you can imagine that I was thinking it was either me or my roommate, and sure enough, it was my roommate. He asked me if he should ask her out on a date, and I told him he should. After all, you should always follow your heart, right? Be true to your emotions!

Well, he did do that, and then our lives became sort of like an episode of Saved by the Bell, without getting into too much detail.  And let’s just say that my emotions weren’t always “in check.” After all, I did like him. I’m not much into believing that people of the opposite sex can “just be friends” if they have such a strong friend connection like we did. They’re either going to get together or they will stop being friends.

In fact, at one point, I told Scott that. I said that if he ever started dating someone, I really couldn’t be his friend. I did not want to be THAT GIRL who is best friends with the guy who has a girlfriend. My opinion is that if a guy is dating, then the girl he is in a relationship with should be his best friend. Just my opinion, though. I’m sure there are those who would disagree with me. And, I’m not talking about just friends… but the kind of friendship Scott and I had would not be characterized as basic friendship.

Okay, rant over. So, you can read Scott’s post to get the (heavily-glossed over) details, but basically fast forward about 6-8 weeks and one night I’m eating dinner sitting on my couch, getting ready to go to a dress rehearsal, and Scott comes over. We’re sitting there, talking, and then all of a sudden he says, “I think I like someone, but I don’t know if I should tell her.” Well, remembering back to what I encouraged him to do a couple of months prior, I took the opposite approach. I said, “Well, don’t tell her. Don’t give into your emotions. Just let life go and take it really slowly.”

I think this took him aback somewhat, because he paused for a moment and then said, “Well, it’s you. It’s you who I like.”

Well, then I was taken aback. I paused, then told him I liked him too!

And then I had to go to rehearsal for 4-5 hours.

Yeah, I don’t remember ANY of that rehearsal, and I’m sure I called every cue wrong (I was stage managing) but I do remember telling my Assistant Stage Manager everything, and I think she cleaned up for me so that I could leave the theatre earlier…

Then, Scott and I talked and talked (if you know us now, you are probably not surprised by this) and talked about this… I had never dated anyone, and I really only wanted to date the person I was going to marry, and so I had to really think and pray about this. This discussion went on for a few days (not straight, obviously we had classes and rehearsals and whatnot).

So, then there was that moment when we were talking about what to call our relationship, and I was like, “Can’t we just be nebulous for a while?” As you may know from reading this blog, Scott doesn’t really do well with nebulous relationships and so he said, “okay, so if a girl asks me out, can I say yes?” And I was all, “No! Of course not!” and he was like, “then we’re dating.” So, then we agreed to call ourselves “Dating.”

So, that’s our basic “How we started dating” story. From my perspective, obviously. And with a lot of dramatic details left out (this is a blog post, not a novel).

Anyway, I’m so glad that this is my love story, and that I got my wish of only ever dating one person! And, I’m glad that Scott liked my roommate first, and that we started out as friends. It made it so much easier for us to get to know one another in a safe environment where we never hid our true selves from each other the way you might be tempted if you just "start dating."