I am so fortunate to be working with so many new beginnings. Allen and Megan are off to a good start, as are Freya and Elliott. Hannah and Jack have known one another for some time now, but in a way they are only just beginning now. And now I may add one more beginning, for this afternoon, Anna had a date.
Well, perhaps I should not call it a date. Anna was trying not to think of it this way—though she has spoken to Jacob a few times already, she was not certain of how the evening would go. Neither was I, really. I have never before worked with no prior knowledge of a potential partner for one of my charges. The Internet is truly an amazing thing!
However, as soon as he came into the restaurant, I could see that I had nothing to fear. His aura was gentle and warm, radiant with kindness. Anna could not see it, but she, too, was reassured when Jacob looked her way, and she saw his easy smile. It certainly did not hurt that his eyes lit up when he saw her.
“Anna!” he said, coming across to the table. “You’re even prettier than your picture.”
“Thank you,” she said, blushing as she kissed his cheek. “It’s so good to meet you—in person, I mean.”
“No, I hear you,” he said, settling down across the table from her. “Internet dating is weird, right? You can talk and talk to someone, but you don’t really get a sense of who they are until you meet in person.”
Anna raised her eyebrows at him. “You sound like you’ve done this before.”
“A couple of times,” he said, shrugging. “I’ve met some very nice girls, and a handful of not-so-nice ones, but no one every really worked out for me.”
Anna considered this—was that a warning sign?—but decided to give Jacob the benefit of the doubt. I made a note, however, to examine these past experiences myself another time.
“Well, I don’t have much experience dating at all,” she admitted, “so I’m not quite sure how to go about it.”
“Then why don’t we start with friends and go from there?” Jacob suggested. “We can just get to know each other, and when we feel more comfortable we can talk about getting more serious.”
This put Anna at ease, and she gladly agreed. They spent the next hour or so getting acquainted, talking about their families, their jobs, and—much to Anna’s relief—their faith.
“I grew up Episcopalian,” Jacob explained, “but in college I started going to a Baptist church with a friend, and I liked the more easygoing approach. There are some things that they talk about that I don’t quite agree with, but I’m attached to the people now, so I keep going.”
Anna leaned her chin in her hand. “You think it’s more important, then, to be a part of a community than to join a body whose beliefs match your own?”
Jacob smiled at the question. “I think the most important thing is to love other people. Isn’t that what the gospel boils down to? And my church is a very loving church. I can overlook any disagreements I have for that.”
Anna liked that very much. “My mother used to say, Get your heart right, and everything else will follow.”
“Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”
The conversation flowed easily right up to the point that Anna had to leave. Jacob walked her out to her car and invited her to join him for lunch later in the week. “And I won’t ask to kiss you goodnight, since we’re still just friends,” he said with a grin.
Anna took his hand and squeezed it. “Well, maybe not just,” she said. “Definitely ask me next time.”
“Oh, I will,” he promised.
Thus another beginning. I like Jacob, and I think that he could be very good for Anna. I do have less confidence in the attraction between these two, but more often than not, love is a choice, not an overwhelming feeling. I think that this one could work very well indeed.