"a fortunate stroke of serendipity"

Friday, September 4, 2015

The City that Changed my Plans


I'm not a very good planner because I usually just feel like things are going to work out. But you know that feeling you get when something goes terribly wrong? That one where your heart just suddenly drops and you know YOUR plans are going to be very different now? Well that's New York for me. And it all started two years ago in the summer of 2013.


I had been planning a huge adventure for my sister and I to go on and get away from everything, school, boys, and normal way of life. We were going to a little orpahange in the middle of the jungle in Ghana.
I had everything prepared and thought out in my mind and everything felt right. I had been to Africa so many times before I felt like a pro. (Ps never get cocky) 

Days before departure I met this very sweet, funny, and genuine man who happened to be from Ghana. He gave me his number "just in case" and I literally thought I would never need it or see him him again, but boy was I wrong. 

On our way to Ghana we got stuck in New York City because of, let's call it, a visa issue (you can read the post "An Abby Evans adventure" for the real details haha) 
A nice man at the airport asked me if I knew anyone who had family in Ghana that I could call and ask for help...and so that number, that I never thought I'd dial, was now our only hope. 



Little did I know that that visa mistake I made in New York, that phone call I made in New York, would change my life forever. 
From that phone call and Josh's selfless service to my sister and I, we became good friends, and then at a crossroads of wether or not we should be more than just good friends. 

It was December and we had been spending a lot of time together for quite a while. Josh decided to go stay with his sister in New York over the Christmas break. I let him go and it was going to be that 'time for us to be apart and see if we really missed eachother' kind of thing. I was being so stubborn about the whole serious relationship thing, and even though I knew he loved me by this point, I still didn't know what to do, I was thinking so much and kind scared for a real relationship. (I was so difficult I even frustrated myself!)

So he left and a week went by... and then I was done. I had to go to New York.
I bought a plane ticket that night I was there by the next evening. 

A surprise visit and a week of amazing adventures with Josh in New York City. I don't know if it was the cold weather and dreamy Christmas lights through-out the city, or the New Year's Eve kiss, but somewhere within that magical week in New York City my heart melted and things became more clear. 




It was time for me to go home, he took me to the train station and we stood there and waited in the freezing cold. I just kept thinking about how sweet this man was next to me holding my hand, and how good to me he was, my heart felt so big, and even though it was so cold, I felt warm. 


Then the train came and I felt like I was saying goodbye for a long time, even though it was just a few days until he would come home.

As I hurriedly went to step onboard the busy train Josh looked at me and said, "I love you Abby" And then, as if I'd said it a million times before, I said "I love you too Josh" And stepped onboard the train. The doors closed and I stared through the window at Josh's astonished face, just as the train sped away... 

And now, two years later and married, we're back. In the city where I first said, "I love you" and it's still just as wonderful to be here with him as I remembered  



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