Love is in the Air: Is Falling in Love An Unavoidable Dive?

Today's special guest married the man of her dreams when she turned Sweet 16. True story, Ada became Mrs. Brownell on her 16th birthday! 

The married couple are celebrating 62 years of wedded bliss that produced five children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

You'd think a couple who share such a remarkable life story would have good advice to share about matters of the heart. So today, I invited Ada to share her story and invite your mind to ponder the whether or not falling in love is unavoidable.

Enjoy! :)

~*~
Is Falling in Love An Unavoidable Dive?
Written by Ada Brownell

I’ve studied and written about love many times, but writing my historical romance, The Lady Fugitive, was an exceptional experience. As with my own, that love takes a while to burst into full bloom.

Truth is, I wasn’t looking for romance when for some reason I caught the eye of my future husband. He’s my brother-in-law’s brother and I at almost 15 barely noticed him, except I knew several girls in our church were crazy about him. He was handsome, but nearly five years older and working for the railroad.

I was president of the youth group and busy with a job, school, and ministry. I’d had a couple of dates but I didn’t like either of the guys much. I didn’t expect romance until later. After all, a freckled redhead would never have a bunch of handsome suitors.

I’d noticed L.C. watching me before, but it was at a Sunday school ice skating party that I knew something was going on. He had taken skating lessons while in telegraph school in Minneapolis. My dad found skates at an auction for me and my brother and I spent part of every winter on frozen ponds and canals.

L.C. and I were about the only ones at the party who knew how to skate. Others spent their time wobbling on their blades and drinking hot chocolate around the fire.

This young man began talking to me as we went around the moon-lit curves in the canal. I wondered why he was talking to me. Then he asked if he could take me home. Afterward, he asked me for a date. Flattered, I accepted, but I didn’t expect love. After all, my sister was engaged five times before she married.

I didn’t know he was smitten and hunting for a wife.

That led to a year of dating, breaking up, making up, and then a proposal and engagement. But even then I broke up with him and almost refused to have anything to do with him. He wanted to tell me what to do. I wanted no part of that. Yet, he persisted and finally we married on my 16th birthday.

We’ve had a wonderful life together, have five children and have been married 62 years.

I finished high school, later earned my college degree, and I’ve studied love a long time.

Falling in love is an act of the will. Cupid doesn’t shoot you with a poison love arrow and “twang!” you’re a goner. Love happens because of several circumstances.

1. You are around the person of the opposite sex frequently (that’s called propinquity—what happens when you are near in time and space).

2. You desire someone in your life.

3. Your God-given instincts are telling you to create a family.

4. The person will build your ego.

5. Because you decide to fall in love to create excitement in your life.

6. Because no one better is available.

7. Because you have similar interests.

8. Because you are lonely.

9. Because someone else thinks it’s a good idea.

10. Most important: Because while you were in the womb God had a plan for your lives, and your love is so strong you feel you can’t live without one another (Psalm 37:23).

Finally, long marriages happen because you decide to continue to love one another, obey God’s Word, and honor the vows made before God to cherish only each other until death—the most romantic words ever spoken.

~*~
Author bio:

Ada Brownell, a devoted Bible student, has written for Christian publications since age 15 and spent much of her life as a reporter for The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado. She also is a veteran youth Christian education teacher. 

After moving to Missouri in her retirement, she continues to write books, free lance for Sunday school papers, Christian magazines, write op-ed pieces for newspapers, and blogs with stick-to-your-soul encouragement. 

She is the author of six books. She is a member of Ozarks Chapter of American Christian Writers and American Christian Fiction Writers. She and her husband have five children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

~*~

Blurb for Ada's book, The Lady Fugitive: 

How does a respected elocutionist become a face on a wanted poster?

Jenny Louise Parks escapes from the coal bin, and her abusive uncle offers a handsome reward for her return. Because he is a judge, he will find her or he won’t inherit her parents’ ranch. 

Determination to remain free grips Jenny, especially after she meets William and there’s a hint of romance. But while peddling household goods and showing a Passion of the Christ moving picture, he discovers his father’s brutal murder. 

Will Jenny avoid the bounty hunters? Can she forgive the person who turns her in?

~*~

Buy Ada's book, The Lady Fugitive, on Ada's Amazon Author page:

https://www.amazon.com/author/adabrownell 

~*~

Connect with Ada:

Blog - http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com Stick-to-Your-Soul Encouragement

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AdaBrownellWritingMinistries

Twitter - @AdaBrownell

True Love Stories: ZayLo

Perhaps today's featured true love story is best summarized by a quote from the writer who is well, a professional writer! 

"I met her in 2005/Two years passed, she learned I was alive/Fast forward some years...just about seven/Together blissful, it’s been like heaven."

~Zay Garza

Read on for the story of how God sent "Cupid's arrow" as Zay calls it, straight into the hearts of Louri and Zay, transforming the friends into lovers with an affection that led to marriage and their own happily ever after. 

~*~
ZayLo
Zay and Louri's true love story

Of course the summation in our attached description is to be simple, poetic and fun, but our tale as a couple begins because of my old inoperable BlackBerry and a reliable addiction to Facebook in February 2010.

I was five weeks liberated from a previous relationship, while Louri hoped for new love but constantly drafted lists of bad dates and incompatibles.

Since my youth, I have always desired to romantically love someone and feel that reciprocation, but my life was without such luck that I was always wanting.

For weeks, I attempted to organize a date with a woman that I was interested in, but each time, I was without luck. I did not know what to do because I did not want to spend this day alone.

Logging onto Facebook, I checked all of my notifications comments of my current status update. I scrolled down my page and saw a recent thread between me and my friend about her most recent poor dating experiences. Her name was Louri Aaron.

After I finished reading our conversation, I remember hearing of people in stories spend time with friends on Hallmark’s day of love.

Not wanting to appear creepy, I became increasingly uncomfortable for some reason. I reached for my BlackBerry to offer the invitation for a simple night between friends. Yet as fate would have it, my phone immediately rebooted itself and once it returned to its normal position, her contact information was removed.

After praying to God I would be viewed pleasantly, I sent what now I know to be my last invite to a woman for a first date (though this was not intended to be a date), through Facebook.

I invited her to join me at the Busboys and Poets restaurant at the corner of 14th and V street Northwest, Washington, D.C.. Plagued by the remnants of Snowmageddon, I suggested we take the Metro because parking would be difficult. At arrival, I found Louri in the restaurant’s bookstore studying the newest available book-spines. As our eyes met, we friendly embraced, and allowed the hosting staff to escort us to our seat. Sitting next to each other on the restaurant’s lounge-inspired couches, it immediately dawned on us that we had not once spent time alone, outside of our group of friends.

Surrounded by Cupid’s spell, we jovially joked at how all previous Valentines days were wretched and unromantic. While John Legend, Jill Scott, and Corinne Bailey Rae chorused us through the speaker system, our food arrived, matching a smell to the emotional peace on this couch. And yes, I even remember her meal, the Spinach Pesto Lasagna.

Laughing and talking about politics and comic book characters, we quickly deduced that the wait staff became irritated by our inaction after our meals were completed, but we cared nothing for their inconvenience. We were caught in pure comfort and embraced this new enjoyment we found in each other, just friends.

Glancing at the clocks on our phones, we both realized we each had a BlackBerry and exchanged mobile numbers and individual BBM (BlackBerry Messenger) contacts, preparing ourselves to leave because we had work the next morning.

Bundling ourselves for the cold, I remember looking at her, and I knew I didn’t want this evening to end. Was this romance? I was unsure. What I did know is that never before had I felt so relaxed. Never before had I felt such comfort. Never before had I felt such happiness.

Nearing eleven that evening, I decided I did not want her traveling alone on the train.

Looking over to her, I suggested, “Why don’t you ride with me to my house in the city and I can give you a ride to your car?” Knowing she’d refuse and I would have to pressure the issue further, I prepared a verbal parry, but to my surprise she said, “Okay.”

From the U Street Corridor to Capitol Hill, we exited the Potomac Avenue Metro train station. To me, this was a neighborhood I’ve known my whole life, but to her, she was seeing it for the first time. Covered in snow and ice mounds everywhere, we walked cautiously.

Reaching to help her down the ice mound, I was immediately overwhelmed, as when our hands touched, God unleashed the Cupid arrow and a shock of electricity moved throughout our bodies, moving us from “just friends” to “husband and wife” on May 25, 2014.

Everyday, I thank God for my wife, the one He prepared for me. Everyday, I thank Him for my friend that reciprocates my affection. I thank God that I’ve finally found her. I thank God that I finally found the one that I’ve prayed for all of my life.

~*~
Author bio: Juan-Jose “Zay” D. Garza and Louri “Lo” K. Aaron-Garza have been married since May 25, 2014. The both were raised in Christian homes and both have personally accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. Christ is the center of their relationship. They are both members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church denomination. They live in the Washington Metropolitan Area.