Flash Back Friday: I'm glad he proved me wrong.
I first saw him when the bell rang for our 4th period english class.
Junior year had started off exactly how I hoped it would.
I had a my friends, a boyfriend, and I was finally comfortable at this school I had transferred to just a year before. I felt like I finally found my footing.
My friend whipped around in her seat, “That’s him, the new transfer from Chelsea.”
I looked up to watch an unfamiliar face walk through the front of the classroom and snag his assigned seat at the front.
He was one of those lucky kids with one of those “high letter on the alphabet” last names.
Bell.
Buzzed hair, tan skin, fresh meat.
That’s exactly how every girl at our high school saw him too. He was new, who would get him?
Sounds absurd, but if you attended a small private high school, you know the drill. Especially since most of these kids had been together since kindergarten.
I would quickly learn that his name was Cody Bell, but oddly enough everyone called him Toby… must’ve been a jock thing.
He was the new hot commodity at our small private high school and I had a boyfriend.
To say I was disinterested is an understatement.
I found it painfully annoying how obsessed girls at our high school were with this new boy and the drama that surrounded who got his attention.
I turned my annoyed stance to a place of complete distaste and decided it would be my goal in every conversation where he was mentioned to roll my eyes and say some underhanded comment like, “What’s the big deal about him? He is kind of a jerk.”
Yeah, a jerk I hadn’t spoken two words to, but I was in high school, it was in my DNA to be immature and petty.
The name Cody Bell would come up and I had something to say. Always negative, always out of line.
The boy I was dating at the time befriended this new stranger to our school and actually became good friends with him. It felt a little like betrayal. I mean he should’ve taken my stance when it came to this guy, but instead he got to know him like a mature teenager should do.
One night, sitting in his car, “that Cody Bell guy” came up in conversation. I, of course, started in on my stance and rolled my eyes. The eye movement was interrupted quickly, “Don’t start Laura, you don’t even know him. Before you say one more negative thing about him, you really should give him a chance. He’s a really great guy.”
I zipped it because I had been terribly called out for being an actual brat but my insides were annoyed at the conviction.
today, I am forever indebted to that boy for calling me to a different perspective.
Senior year rolled around.
No boyfriend, new class schedule.
There he was, “that Cody Bell guy”. Hair grown out, 15 more pounds of football muscle and skin sun-kissed by 2-a-days and youth group mission trips.
Good Morning, Cody Bell. Welcome to Alabama Christian Academy, I’m so glad you are here.— my perspective was brand new :)
I knew he was completely out of my league. He dated the fashionable cool athletic girls and I was indeed obsessed with theatre and dance and my black flats had holes worn through the bottom.
I survived the first half of senior year that I stumbled through, dragging my feet that were chained to the senioritis bricks and Christmas break was finally here long enough for me to gear up to finish strong.
Walking out the door to an annual christmas party, my red slider phone buzzed with a text.
“Hey :)” it read.
It was a number I didn’t recognize, but the area code was not for our area… I knew it was him.
My big sister looked over my shoulder and read what was sent, “Eww, don’t respond to a guy who sends a “hey” message.”
I completely agreed, but responded anyways… I mean, what did he want?
The conversations continued on for a few weeks. I honestly didn’t think much of it, but it was consistent.. enough to make me believe he may have some interest in me.
Weeks of up and down, inconsistent, teenaged “talking” behavior whirled around me as we rounded the corner to the spring.
I was uncertain of where we stood and prom was glaring me in the eyes with flashing lights reading “YOU DON’T HAVE A DATE.”
I knew I was approaching the time frame where I was about to have to ask a boy in my youth group to go with me.
Panic stayed present in my gut at the thought of having to mix school and church friends. its a thing, don’t act like you’ve never felt that.
But I knew it was inevitable. Oh and did I mention that every boy in my youth group was grades younger than me?
A few days before I decided to put my ask a boy from the youth group plan into action, it snowed in Montgomery.
Let me tell you about snow in the south
1) it never happens
2) the whole town shuts down.
3) everyone thinks it’s magical.
One of my best friends from down the street drove to my house on a go-cart to basically speed race us around the block in the flurries. It was very “montgomery” of us.
I got home feeling a little discombobulated from the go-cart ride and my sister insisted we take a drive around the city to see the snow fall.
We did.
We even stopped at a gas station for snacks and picked up my other sister along the way. The three of us chowing down on gummy worms and Dr. Pepper, driving to all our favorite spots to gaze at the snow.
We eventually tired ourselves of the cold weather and decided to head home.
We rounded the corner of my parents street when I noticed someone in bulky sweats standing in our front yard.
My sister turned to me, “That’s Cody Bell, he told me to get you out of the house. He wants to ask you to prom.”
My gut dropped. Partially out of excitement and then out of panic … the excited/dry mouth/I’m scared I’ll stutter panic.
Turns out, his mama wouldn’t let him drive the five miles between his house and mine so he decided to walk.
He walked five miles to ask me to prom.
He spent almost an hour writing it in the snow in our front yard.
I said yes and we were dating a few short weeks later. Our first kiss was painfully awkward and we still get red in the face when we think back on it.
A lot of people may say that there was a grand gesture and their romance started to kind of dwindle as they started dating/engaged/married.
But our story is different.
That boy that I was determined to write off because of who I thought he was turned out to be that man I never could even conjure up in my mind.
Patience, wisdom, insight, grace… and always FULL of surprises.
I went off to college and he never let a moment of distance stop us from connection. He honestly hasn’t lacked on that in the nine years we have been together.
He goes the distance, beyond what anyone could guess or plan. He keeps you on your toes.. in the best way possible.
His ability to be the most quiet person in the room, yet carry honor and leadership astounds me.
He doesn’t ever ask for respect, but the way he lives his life gives you no other choice but to honor him.
His actions call others to a higher standard.
I can say it to this day, this man is the kind that every single woman on planet earth should wait for and set their standards for.
Not because he is perfect but because he strives to love with all of himself at all times.
And to this very day, I am glad he proved me wrong.
Happy Five years of marriage to the love of my life for all of my life.
You never stop surprising me.
