Interning (part 1)

I don’t remember a lot about my first Intern meeting, well maybe other than the feeling of your brain being so chocked full of information you're dizzy, but I do remember a red spiderman shirt sitting across the table to the left of me. Never would I have guessed that, that very red shirt would be sitting in a drawer in my bedroom now! Ha, It’s funny how when you think of the future you come up with expectations without even realizing it, and as soon as the moment hits you barely remember what the expectations were anymore. That's me... I don’t remember what I had thought meeting my husband was going to be like, but I know that it didn’t look like this. We were both uninterested, well maybe I was slightly interested I mean he was handsome, but I wouldn’t have admitted that on account of not even knowing how old he was (I mean keep it together Elisabeth)

This is the story of the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’m writing it down because it’s rather a funny story, and it makes me so sad that one day I may forget the vivid sights, smells, or feelings of falling in love. I hope some others might take some enjoyment in it too, and laugh at/with me as I stumbled into the spiderman shirt boy's arms...and yeah that’ll eventually happen, but you’ll have to hold you horses and wait for that with 18 year old Elisabeth who has NOT ONE CLUE.

I became an intern at my church not because it had always been a dream of mine, nor did I especially want to go into ministry. I stumbled upon a facebook post saying my church was in need of interns, and it just kind of felt right. I know now that was God’s oh so subtle way of opening a door and throwing me in.

I was the only girl with three other male interns and two male pastors on staff. To say that was an odd scenario would be an understatement. I relished being the little/fragile one, but I also felt very out of place with no specific job tasks most Sundays. I stood awkwardly, as people unloaded a trailer of big boxes, just waiting for things to be set out enough so that I could start making the coffee (which became one of my official intern roles).

The internship team was an odd cast of characters, everyone but me was a dude they also were all very musically talented and members of the church worship team...not my thing. Blake and Jon were who I was around the most as they both were out of school and working part time. They were at every intern meeting and could be found tinkering around the office most other times.

Blake was intimidating. He was both the oldest and most talented of all of us, and It took me awhile to figure out what was behind his unwelcoming exterior. He at the heart of it all was searching for purpose, and during my internship I saw him grow by leaps and bounds. To this day he is still someone who when I think of him I feel proud of where he's at.

Jon was a more friendly character at the time although we didn’t talk to me much. He was probably the person I most enjoyed listening to during the intern meetings though, he was really smart and although his sense of humor wasn't my favorite (<enter poop joke here) he was always fun to listen to....Jon wasn’t the boy in the spiderman shirt though, no that boy was Peter.

He was one of the youngest interns, but you wouldn’t have known that by the general seriousness he took every task assigned to him. He was quiet, and didn’t go to the intern meetings because of school, but whenever he was at the office building or there during church he was hard to not notice. He was constantly doing something and never in the same place for long, other than when he was on the stage (piano, guitar) It was then that I had the opportunity to really try to figure out who he was.. (AKA, awkwardly starring at him) He definitely had a presence, and although being your typical lanky teenager he held himself with confidence. It made me curious, it made me have to try not to stare.

One of the first things I did when I got admin privileges to our church’s “facebook” type website I looked at Peter’s profile. I genuinely didn’t know how old he was and I knew it might be a make or break for the attraction I was feeling towards him...I remember seeing 11/12/1995 and having mixed emotions. He was younger than me, but not by much. What did this mean? I didn’t know if that was too young or not, and decided to just let it go. He seemed kind of boring anyways, and I didn’t want to give him hope to only to get bored with him. I know that sounds mean, but it was well intended I swear.

There was one more intern that I have yet to introduce. He was still in highschool and only ever an “official intern” on Sundays so he just feels like he should be in a different category than Jon, Blake, and Peter. His name was Aaron, and I met him for the first time a couple of weeks into my interning. Peter was actually teaching Aaron how to make the coffee, and I sat in on the lesson. I couldn’t guess how old Aaron was, but somewhere in the range of youth camp age since that how he knew Peter. I had a lot of misconceptions about Aaron when I first met him, not having grown up around extroverted men made him very odd to me. I have to say now though that Aaron was one of my closest friends interning and I miss him a lot now that he's moved away. I fondly recall all of the times he’d stand by hospitality just talking to me about his world, the way his name was spelled incorrectly on his name tag still makes me laugh, and I still very much in awe of his ability to bring almost everyone he knew to church. Aaron has such a heart for God, and I for one am excited to see what his future holds.

During my first month interning, I was trying to figure out where my place was as an intern, and in desperate need of friends. Hoping if I wasn't going to like Peter maybe he could fill that role I forced two painfully awkward encounters with him that I would later over analyse for all they were worth.

The first of which was on a Monday, I walked into our church office building expecting to go upstairs to a rather normal meeting then get some stuff done. Instead I walked in to see Peter counting Hospitality supplies. Not wanting to seem startled by his presence I awkwardly just grunted while I walked past him on a mission to head up the stairs a avoid eye contact. (I know so cute) He stopped me by saying “They don’t want us up there right now” I turned to him catching his eyes and trying to comprehend what he was said.

Oh no I’m stuck down here with him, just him! My head screamed trying to come up with something to say, but the words never came..Instead I just muttered..”Oh…”

Grunting and Oh was seriously all this boy had heard from me so far, I felt defeated, but also hopeful for conversation. I mean where were stuck alone downstairs it’d have to be more awkward to stay silent than to talk, right? He didn’t say anything for awhile so I spoke up.

“So my friends going to your Community Group, well your parents Community Group.”

“Oh yeah.” he said back still to me doing whatever he was doing in the black box that held all of our coffee supplies.

“Yeah, Lindsey and her family have never really gone to one, and I had been encouraging them to join yours for awhile.” I said, sticking to one of the topics I knew we had in common.

“Oh, the Reeks? Yeah they’re come a couple of times.”

I cringed at his pronunciation of their last name, a common mistake, but still it sounded so bad.

“It’s Rike actually.” I corrected.

Just then one of the other interns came back in from the back door. Oh good, I though obviously I’m not getting far on my own maybe they'll talk.

But no such luck, even when the Jon showed up nothing but casuals “Hey’s” were exchanged. Maybe someone explained to Blake or Jon that were were waiting downstairs, but I honestly can’t remember. My conversation with Peter was over and I wasn’t bold enough to try again in front of the guys. I decided to let it be what it was, a flop, and be prepared with questions in case it happened again.

The second encounter was on a Sunday morning. I was tired..per usual and headed towards the coffee I had slaved all morning to prepare and move out to the common area. I should probably be heading into the service, but you couldn’t bring coffee into the auditorium so here I was. Aaron came up to be like a bee to honey and started chatting my ear off about wrestling (his favorite thing in the world) , and how Kid’s check in had been (his area of service) and as he was talking to me I saw Peter come over from the backstage area straight towards to coffee area.

He likes coffee? I observed with a small smile, as I watched him pour himself some, and to my surprise he stood by Aaron joining our conversation. They started talking about youth camp, and that's when Aaron asked me why I hadn’t gone?

“Well first off I didn’t know about it, but I probably wouldn’t have gone anyways. I am only 18, but I already graduated high school and have a job...I’m not really youth anymore” I explained and Aaron immediately started trying to figure out how I could’ve gone as a counselor, but I didn’t listen. I just looked at Peter and realized I had just put a big gap between us..We both saw our place in the world very differently, and I had just made that painfully clear.

This is where Lindsey enters in.You may remember her from my first painfully awkward conversation with Peter. Lindsey was a friend I had made at Beauty school and I quickly developed a big sister type relationship with her. I taught her about the dangers of the world, and she taught me how to text...It was a decent friendship. Now Lindsey went to our church, and I had been trying to convince her and her family to go to a community group for awhile. I was more than thrilled when they decided to go to Peters parent's group. That is until I got this text:

"I think I like Peter"

I remember almost jumping out of bed as I read this. I liked him, it took her threatening my chances to really realize this, but I REALLY really liked him. (yes, just like the Carly Rae Jepsen song) I composed myself and didn't reply with a "Back OFF, he's mine" like I wanted to. Instead I just told her I din't really think he liked her, and hes just nice so it might seen like he does but he doesn't. She quickly reminded me that he was planning to attend her birthday party in a couple of weeks and my heart sunk. I decided to wait and see how he interacted with her then, I needed proof that he really did like her before I could completely give up hope.