I decided to start a church in the town of Morrison. I had wanted to be a church planter. I had been an assistant pastor but never a senior pastor. I was a widower with three daughters.
While I was seeing up the church, I got a job at a grocery store. I was a cashier. It was meant to be a temporary job.
Kathleen was a shift leader. She was one of the supervisors of the cashier. She was on vacation for my first two weeks. I had no idea who she was. "you! Can you get on six?" she asked "of course. "he said.
Yes, that is actually what she said to me on our first encounter. My future wife and that was our first words. My first impression of her was that she was cold and abrupt.
I later learned that she was well-liked. She was a tough bit fair. She kept to herself. We went to her car on breaks. She did not socialize with coworkers. she kept to business at work. She was stoic. On occasion, she got laughing.
She was afraid that people would take advantage of her because she was young. She was 22. She was afraid that management might regret promoting her. She felt like she had a lot to prove. She felt the pressure.
She was five foot five. Her hair was in a ponytail. Sometimes it flopped on its own as she walked. She wore bare feet in slip.on shoes. She usually wore jeans. She had perfect posture.
I had heard from the grapevine that she was a believer. She attended a non-denominational mega-church. She never used cuss words or talked about anything inappropriate. She was a person of integrity. She had a consistent reputation. She showed evidence in her life that she was a believer. She was different than the world. She seemed to avoid compromise.
Our interaction was confined to talking business. We did not interact beyond the talking shop. I did not know much about her. She did not know much about me. That was fine. She knew I have three kids. I had shopped with them on my days off. She had said hi to me and the girls.
We never talked in small talk. we did not flirt with one another. We did not talk about our personal life. I knew almost nothing about her interest, hobbies, or even dislikes. I did not think I needed to.
I had worked at the store for a few months. A friend of one of my fellow baptist pastors owned a construction company. I had worked in construction before. The company had mostly Christian employees. I looked forward to a change of pace. I decided to leave the store.
There were people in the store I would miss. I did not think about Kathleen. I did not know her. On my last day, I said my goodbyes to everyone. I would hardly be a stranger. The grocery store was pretty much the only store in the area. I would see my co-workers but it would not be quite the same.
I had clocked out for the day. I was heading out. I was heading to my car. I had mixed feelings. I liked working at the store. There were good people. Retail was just not my thing. I heard someone calling my name. I turned around.
"you're going to leave without saying goodbye?" Kathleen remarked. I thought to myself, "well we are not that close" but I did not say that out loud."I will still be around. I do my shopping here. You will see me frequently. "I said.
"good. I will hold you to that. "she said. I chuckled. "of course. "I said. "I hope I was not too hard on you. I tend to overcompensate I guess. it's not easy being in a supervisory role at my age. I am not naturally assertive. That's just not me. I push Myself and maybe I push a little too far. "she said"I understand. I never felt put upon. Your request was always reasonable. I was never offended. "I said. "good. You are one of my best cashiers. I am sad to lose you" she said. "thank you for that ."I said.
It was a bit of an unusual situation. I was a bit taken aback by it. I did not give it a lot of thought. I moved on.
I got on with life. I pastored, worked, worked raised my kids. Life went on. I did shop at the store quite frequently. I saw Kathleen. I usually saw her in passing. I would say hi. She said hi back. She said hi to the kids. I could tell that she was kid friendly. I appreciated that about her.
I continued to see her when I shopped. We were always friendly and cordial. I enjoyed seeing her. I found I looked forward to seeing her. I started to seek her out. We would engage in small talk. She would talk to the girls as well.
I developed a romantic interest in her. At first, I dismissed it. I ignored it. After a time I considered it. I debated rather or not to do it. After a time, I decided to go ahead. It was a risk but I felt it was worth the risk. I decided to do it.
"Kathleen, can I talk to you for a quick second?"I asked." of course matt. What's up?" she asked.