The year was 2006. It was approaching the holiday season and life seemed mighty fine. I was on the good side of a one hundred pound weight loss. A new job as a salesman promised wealth beyond what I had seen in my twenty-seven years. And I was beginning to meet some new people with hopes of finally finding that special someone for me. On the surface it looked great. What a wonderful way to end the year I found myself thinking at the time. But there was a lot more to my situation at the time than appeared on the surface.
The weight loss for instance only took away any excuse I had not to find the right girl and settle down. All I ever wanted out of life was to be a good husband and father. Whereas six figure salaries and fancy cars were some people’s goals, mine always included a simple happy family. With no reason not to go out and find that mystical ‘one for me’ I really was struggling with the idea that I was still single with no family in sight. The new sales job saw a very small base salary and the rest was to be made up by commission. That became a problem when I figured out quickly that I did not have what it took to be a salesman. Now what seemed like a good ending to the year saw me broke, lonely and fearing that I might never find the special person for me.
An entire state away was a girl who was going through a rough year of her own. She was getting divorced from her first husband at the exact same time her parents were ending a marriage that spanned decades. What for her seemed like it should be a tough year however saw her throwing more time and energy into her job as a teacher. Where my reaction to things not going my way was to grow frustrated, hers was to find more kids to love and care for. One of those kids was a little boy with a rough year of his own as well.
He was eight years old and living with his Father. After being shipped around from house to house and person to person all his life, he was angry and resentful. Fate brought him that Christmas season to the second grade classroom of the girl I was about to meet. She was instantly drawn to him and formed a connection right away. A week or so before Christmas I suddenly saw a glimmer of hope in an otherwise darkened Christmas season. A young attractive second grade teacher left a simple comment on my social page of the time. What followed was a weekend that saw over one hundred and fifty emails between her and me.
All at the same time the miracle I had always waited on began to unfold. After church one Sunday I was convicted to quit my sales job. On a whim I did so the next day. That same day my new teacher friend invited me to see her in the neighboring state. I was crazy enough to do it and boy was I glad I did. I spent time talking with her and wrapping presents for her school kids and something began to happen inside of me. I forgot about myself and saw her example of putting others first was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas.
Sadly around this time one of her children, the angry little boy who lived with his father, found himself living on the streets. For a diabetic child such as he this was particularly dangerous. As the teacher and I were driving around the bad parts of town asking for present ideas for the less fortunate kids she also was on the phone dealing with this situation. At a red light she paused and looked to me and said, “If nobody else will take him, I will.” I knew at once that she was serious and that I could easily fall in love with her.
Little did I know at the time that I already had. I finally left and went back to my home state for Christmas with the family. I thought about her and that little boy the entire time. At long last on Christmas night she called me and said she was going to pick the little boy up. His father had agreed to let her keep him for a few weeks while he found a place to live.
I’m not sure how but somehow I knew these two people were tied to my destiny. I thought and prayed and stressed over what decision to make about my future. I wanted a family but did I want a family already made? How would I take care of a child when I was barely an adult myself?
The day after Christmas I checked my mail and had a package to pick up. When I opened it I was stunned. Back when the teacher and I were first chatting with each other she said she was making cookies. I jokingly asked her to save me some and send them to me. She laughed and said okay. Now over a week later I held a package of half broken Christmas cookies in a sandwich bag. She had sent me the cookies somehow having never been given my address. Also in the package was a card. At the bottom after wishing me a Merry Christmas was a bible verse. The words of that verse were the answer to all of my questions and prayers.
Having faith that I had found the family I had always waited for I went back over to visit them as often as I could until I found a job over there. The little boy’s Dad never asked for him back and sadly just faded away. The next year at Christmas I became the Husband of that pretty second grade teacher. Now it’s been five years since the first time we spoke and four years since we married just before Christmas. Every year our anniversary serves as a reminder of our family miracle. That year the Christmas season took three people with difficult pasts and tossed them together into a makeshift family.
Looking back now I know that it was a Christmas miracle. Someone once said that even miracles take a little time. For me that year and every Christmas since proves that statement true. And it reminds me that some miracles are worth waiting for.