My Real-Life Hallmark Romance

Could one of those predictable Hallmark romances ever happen in real life? After watching about a dozen of them this holiday season, I realized that my love story has all the elements of a typical Hallmark movie, including a cute pickup truck.

My husband, Doug, and I met—well, I’m not sure when we met. We have known each other since we were kids, growing up attending the same church. What I do remember is when I first noticed him, I didn’t like him. I thought he was snobby. He wasn’t just popular, he was THE popular kid. And he always wore very short white tennis shorts. I thought he must really like his legs, which was weird.

Then I reached the pinnacle of church-grown youth: high school. All of us kids dreamed of the summer we would get to participate in the youth group and all the fun, cool things they did. Since Doug was three years older than me, I entered the high school youth group when he was a senior. I learned that year that he wasn’t weird or snobby. He was friendly and kind but a bit shy, especially around girls.

A year later, nine teenagers and two chaperones loaded up a fifteen-passenger van on a summer afternoon and took off for a week in Maine. That week sparked something between us. A rustic cabin on a lake, daily special activities, beautiful sunsets, star-filled night skies—it was the quintessential Hallmark week-long romance.

We swam, walked, sang, prayed, laughed, hiked, and grew close. I slipped climbing a mountain, and Doug caught me, forcing us into each other’s arms. I sheepishly thanked him as he put me back on my feet. The connection we were creating became electric. As we sat together in the van on the way back to the cabin, I fell asleep with my head on Doug’s shoulder. That became routine, as did back rubs in front of the fireplace.

One evening, we went on a moonlit canoe ride. Another, we laid on our backs, stargazing side-by-side. One chilly morning, Doug took off his down vest and wrapped me in it, leaving his arms around me for a long moment. It was obvious there was something special between us.

After returning home, Doug acted strangely. I assumed our connection would only grow after the week we spent together. But something was wrong. I asked Doug one day. “I thought we had something special going on. What happened?”

Doug replied, “Before our trip, I made a commitment to Young Life as a volunteer leader for one year. Because you’re a Young Life kid, we can’t date. But if you’ll wait a year, I would like to date you.”

“I’ll wait,” I affirmed.

Enter the villain. We had a mutual friend who had set her sights on Doug too. As part of her plan to get him and keep us apart, she told Doug I was dating someone else. Then she told me that she and Doug had started dating. I had noticed them together at times, but I didn’t ask him about her. I just took her word for it—a typical Hallmark movie relationship mistake.

It wasn’t too long after that development that Doug’s one-year ministry commitment ended. On the way home from a gathering with friends, I worked up the courage to ask him about his relationship with our mutual friend. “So, Mary told me that the two of you are seeing each other. How is that going?”

“What? I’m not dating Mary.” Doug looked shocked. “She told me you were dating Brad.”

“I’m not dating Brad. I’m not dating anyone.”

Doug pulled his truck into the church parking lot, which we just happened to be driving by at that moment. “We need to talk,” he said.

We spent about an hour walking around the church grounds talking. It didn’t take long to realize we had been duped but also that the feelings we had for each other the year before were still there. He asked me if I would go on a date with him.

Doug picked me up two days later for a picnic. We wandered through the woods and along a stream, where Doug pretended to push me in, which resulted in him holding me in his arms. The electric connection sparked wildly.

Three weeks after our first date, two days before Christmas, Doug and I were listening to the distinctive voice of Gordon Lightfoot singing “Beautiful” in the warm glow of Christmas lights when he kissed me. It was the sweetest kiss ever and still gives me butterflies when I think of it.

Three years later, on a beautiful spring day, I walked down the aisle of the church where we had grown up and vowed to be Doug’s wife with the words “I will, with the help of God.”

Honestly, if he had asked me to marry him at the end of that Hallmark-esque, one-week, barely-know-each-other, romantic trip to Maine, I would have said yes. So, don’t be so quick to write off those sappy, predictable Hallmark stories. Some of us have lived them and lived happily ever after (with the help of God).

“Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together!” (Psalm 34:3 ESV – the verse we chose for our wedding program and our lives.)