There's Always a Lesson To Be Learned!

I have been intending to fill you in on Brittany's latest "love interest"...who is now a thing of the past (YES!). My reason for doing so is not to drag him through the mud, but to make the point that God is constantly teaching us lessons, if we'll only be still long enough to LISTEN.

OK...where do I begin? Let's see, I think I should start with Brittany bringing her boyfriend of several months home with her over Christmas Break. We agreed to allow D to stay at our house for 2 nights before flying out of Atlanta to visit his sister in Alaska. Brittany was very taken with D....they'd been dating for almost 3 months. Chris had met him once before, but it was my and Abby's first time to be introduced to him.

Well, shortly after Brittany and D left college to make the 5 1/2 hr. trip to Atlanta, she sent me a text message asking if it would be alright for her and D to get lunch. I didn't think much about it at the time. Chris told me a bit later that she had called him and asked the same thing. We thought it was a bit odd. They got to our house around 6:15 PM that evening. Brittany pulled me aside and told me that D didn't even offer to buy her lunch. She said they stopped to eat, but she ordered first, then D placed his order and made no move to pay. So, she said she had no option but to buy his lunch, too. Not off to a good start!

Everything went fine that evening. We went to Abby's choral performance at school, then came back and ate dinner. D seemed very nice and was quite mannerly. The next day, Chris and I told Brittany that we were going to the mall to have lunch and to do some Christmas shopping and suggested that she and D do the same. She had to talk him into going, but they left shortly after we did. We got back around 3:30 PM and D and Brittany popped through the door a few minutes later. I took one look at Brittany's face and could tell that things were not right. About that time, D walked over to the fridge, got out the leftover spaghetti from the night before, warmed some up on a plate, and that was their (LATE) lunch. As soon as I had a chance, I asked Brittany what had happened. She said they went to the mall and that D wasn't interested in doing anything. Again, he didn't even offer to treat her to lunch, so they ended up having a huge disagreement and decided to come home. Things were heading south real quick!

Chris and Brittany drove D the 45 mins. to the airport the next afternoon. I'm sorry to say, but I was glad to see him leave! There were things about him that were RED FLAGS, in my mind.
First of all, in the 3 months they dated, D, not once, took Brittany out to lunch or to dinner. Call me old-fashioned, but that's just strange to me. He continually made promises to her that he never followed up on, such as taking her to Ruth Chris Steakhouse, taking her to Forever 21 and buying her an outfit of her choice, giving her a "special gift" he, supposedly bought her on Black Friday to show how much he cared. The list goes on and on! Now, it isn't that Brittany EXPECTED these kinds of things because she's about as down-to-earth as they come, however, he shouldn't have told her he was going to do something...and never do it.

While he was in Alaska, he stayed up all night long playing video games with his brother-in-law and ended up sleeping until about 4:30 PM every day! That's so opposite of Brittany...she's a fairly early riser and likes to be on the GO! He kept telling her that when he got back home, he was going to be a "much better" boyfriend to her, so she had high hopes. I, on the other hand, wasn't so sure.

Well, long story short, Brittany got back to Mobile at the end of last week so she could be reunited with D after not seeing him for nearly a month. Needless to say, the day after they got back together, everything fell completely apart. She called me up in tears saying that D hadn't seen her the entire day because he had "tire troubles". So, she went over to his parents' house where he lives and they sat around and watched a couple of movies. She said she was so frustrated with him because all he wanted to do was sit around and do nothing. He didn't call her, at all, the next day to try and make things better, so she decided to end their relationship. She simply wasn't happy...end of story! She had a rough first day, but from that point on, she's been doing just great!

I've shared with Brittany that there was just something about D that gave me a feeling of uneasiness. I felt like he wasn't being forthright about a lot of things and was only saying what he thought Brittany wanted to hear. I assured Brittany that God has designed someone just for her. I told her that it might take years for her to find that "special one", but not to lose heart. God allows us to go through certain trials to help us understand how to lean on Him more for guidance and direction.

I prayed long and hard that Brittany's eyes would be opened to the REAL deal about D. She has since started going to a Bible study at the church she's been attending and I know that God's hand has been in it. It's so hard as a parent to fight the urge to make decisions for your kids that could impact the rest of their lives. You just want to steer them in the right direction so they'll avoid making some of the same mistakes you made when you were younger. Thankfully, God knows exactly what's best and will work it all out in His own perfect timing. This experience for Brittany was definitely a lesson learned...and only one of many more to come.

And to think that I still have this kind of stuff to go through with Abby yet! :)