Caleb and Abby's Courtship

The Beginning
Well, this is how it happened…I (Mrs. Grady) took Abby and Betsy to the Abram's library a bit before Caleb was supposed to be there, let them off and sat out in the parking lot, getting colder and colder and watching snow swirl and blow on day two of the 1 Mar 07 blizzard. The roads had been treacherous getting there which should have been Abby’s first clue that something was up. Half an hour or more passed as I waited for Caleb to arrive. He parked next to me, and joined me for a minute discussing his plans and praying for God’s guidance and blessing. I asked Caleb if he was nervous. “Well, yes!” was his very honest reply. Caleb’s plan was for Betsy to drop a letter to Abby where Abby would find it, and he would be there to discuss the contents. I told Betsy to stay near the front door to watch for Caleb. Betsy had the books-on-tape section memorized by the time a nervous Caleb made his appearance at the library entrance. He handed Betsy a letter with shaking hands and asked her to put it somewhere Abby would find it, but did not specify where. He didn’t hear the location Betsy whispered on her rushed departure either. The stress of covert operations was just too much! Betsy put the letter around the corner of the stack that Abby was currently perusing, but unfortunately she never went any farther down to discover the letter. Caleb waited in the computer area praying Abby would find the letter and checking the results of the Creighton game to calm his nerves! With his computer time running out and no sign of Abby, he went out to get a drink. When he reentered the library, Abby met him at the check out desk. At this point, we’ll change the narrator to Abby, so you can get a bird’s eye view.... I was wandering around the library, feeling tired and uninspired. I checked my books out and turned around to see Caleb Beasley at the door to the library. My immediate thought was my sneaky mother went to Mrs. Beasley’s and sent Caleb to pick me up. Caleb stammered “Hello,” along with some other comments that didn’t make sense to me, and ended by asking if I had got the note? I told him I didn’t get any note. He seemed unaccountably uncomfortable. After an awkward pause, I told him I needed to go find Betsy. Caleb raced off through the stacks looking for the letter. He made a quick call to Mrs. Beasley to see if Betsy had arrived at their house yet. When I couldn’t find Betsy in the library, I went to find Caleb near tears. I found him wandering up and down the stacks talking on his cell phone. I told him I couldn’t find Betsy, and he said, “Betsy left with your mother. You’re supposed to come with me.” We went out to the car and sat down. Caleb sat making no move to start the car. The silence became more and more awkward. I had no idea what was going on. Caleb blurted out, “I talked to your dad. I want to court you.” I said, mostly to myself, “Well, I won’t jump up and down.” This comment went right over Caleb’s head! The allusion was to the way a friend of mine accepted her sweetheart’s proposal by jumping up and down in a very undignified manner. Caleb said, “The letter said it a lot better.” After learning that the letter was still in the library, I said, “We need to find the letter.” I found it right away, and we sat down in the very nice red chairs right by the magazines so I could read the letter - it was a very nice letter. He had written that he did not expect me to answer immediately, and it was fine if I prayed about it. I think I surprised him when I answered, “I had a feeling that we would not be just friends for the rest of our lives. I’ve already prayed about it, and God has given me my answer… so, yes I would be honored to court you.... I may not jump up and down, but I think I’ll cry.” I spent the next few minutes crying, trying to compose myself. After a brief conversation, we left the library and headed to Dodge Park where we sat and talked for a couple of hours. When it started getting darker, Caleb asked if I wanted to go to dinner. Leaving the park, he went out a different way, and the car got high centered in the snow. He called his dad, who by the way was out for dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Grady. Mr. Beasley recommended that Josh’s rescue service come to Caleb’s aid since he was on the opposite side of town. Josh, Caleb’s brother, came in short order equipped with shovels. The shovelers made little progress until an angel in a 4x4 Jeep with oversized tires came driving up. He attached a strap to the car and pulled us out with no trouble at all. His motto was “I drive in this stuff… because I can!” Caleb took me out to Mr. C’s in Florence for dinner. The conversation was much less stilted at this point. Caleb asked me his first major question about possibly going into missions when he was finished with school, and we talked through that. We drove home around 9:30 and sat in the driveway and talked. We knew if we went in the evening would be over. When our parents arrived, we went inside and told our story. When I sat down on the sofa, Caleb came over and claimed the seat next to me. How odd. We’re free to do that now. This is going to take some getting used to!