Friday, July 1, 2011

Shannon Christine Vincent

We hear a lot of stories about how people met. Some is love at first sight, some are bizarre happenings, and of course some are just ordinary. Shannon and her family started attending First Baptist Millington my junior year of high school. She was a year older than me and I really never had that much interest in her. She was tall, slim, wore long dresses, had glasses, and bangs. She and her family had visited a more conservative church prior to coming to FBC and this dress was a little more appropriate for that congregation, but for us it seemed, how do I put it nicely, homely looking.

Now I know that I'm going to get a lot of bruises on my arms after Shannon reads this but this story is told by me and my perception at the time. She is more than welcome to write in her version anytime she chooses. Back to the story, needless to say I knew Shannon as a member in the youth group, someone who was older than me, went to a different high school, and played clarinet in the Munford band and church orchestra. That was the extent of it, and beyond that I really paid her no other attention. However, she paid attention to me. She would always sit with me at church, we would laugh and joke around, but I honestly did that with several girls. I was what you would call a "flirt" and I of course would flirt with Shannon. Shannon, no doubt liked me, but again I had no interest. My dad seemed to like her, and would always ask who she was and why I never pursued her. I, in my teenager ways, would just roll my eyes as if to tell my old man, I got this department sealed, no extra help needed thank you. I was a little arrogant then, but then again what teenage boy wasn't, right? One night in particular I was at home on the family computer and Shannon im'd me. In case you do not know what im'd is , it means instant messaged. It is what we had before texting, facebook, or any other ways of instant communication. I was online and Shannon started to carry on a conversation with me in which I ignored her. My dad saw the conversation, asked why I wasn't responding, in which I said I was not interested. Dad then went on to tell me how nice she was bla bla bla still didn't want to hear it.

My senior year I lost touch with Shannon because she went on to college and I of course had my senior year ahead of me. The summer after my senior year however I had entered the College and Career group at church and Shannon was home for summer break. In walks this tall beautiful brunette, no glasses, and straight hair girl. She was beautiful and I recognized her. I know how this is sounding but what can I say I was a guy.For the first time I had interest in Shannon, but she had no interest in me. As a matter of fact she had moved on and started dating someone else. So I moved on and started dating other girls. When I was with someone she was single, when I was single, she was with someone. This went on for a couple of years. We would still no doubt be flirtatious with each other but the timing was always bad.

Lets fast forward to my coming home from Nashville, and park there for a little bit. I moved back in with mom and dad until I found a new place to live. I was not quite ready to rid myself of the lifestyle I was accustom to back in Nashville and the words "Under my roof my rules" hung over my head so I had every intention of moving out. That summer I had tried to cling on to my Nashville ways but I was slowly being pulled towards another direction. I was still active at FBC Millington and was one of the few people that could lead worship when needed. At the time we were without a college minister so a guy by the name of Farrel Vinvent and his wife Bonnie were pretty much overseeing the group and keeping it together. Farrel and Bonnie happened to be the parents of guess who? Shannon. Farrel asked me to lead worship for the group on Sunday mornings and later gave me the name Steven Curtis Childress, because I was such a fan of the artist Steven Curtis Chapman. God was really working on my life at this time and I slowly began to see all of my desires to go clubbing and hang out with that crowd slowly fade away. I had a greater purpose and ambition in life and it wasn't to waste my days away. Shannon was still as attractive as ever and I still had an interest, but the receiving side was not so much receiving. Shannon had moved on once more and it was I who she had no interest in. One of the guys in the group that I had befriended had a house and a room mate in Millington. George Quintana and I became great friends and in December of 2000 I was given the opportunity to become his third roommate and move outside of my folk's house. What was strange here is that Shannon and her friend Amanda were also friends with George and were always over at his house hanging out as well. Shannon, I don't think, was happy at all with the idea of me moving in but there was really nothing she could do about it. That New Years Eve we all attended a party at our friend Andrew's house. I remember it was snowing like crazy that night and Shannon's parents had called her home before it got too bad. I remember George and I driving home that night after the party and I said the words. Now these are the words you would hear in a movie or book but nevertheless how cheesy they were I said that "Shannon was the kind of girl I could see myself marrying".

I remember the day like it was yesterday. It was either in late January or earlier February of 2001 but I had just a plain bad day at the bank. I was frustrated and I didn't feel like going back to the house. So, I called up Shannon, who was starting to gett used to the idea of having me around now. I asked her if she wanted to come out to Wolfchase, meet me for dinner at Bahama Breeze and then maybe catch a movie afterwards. Her response was "Are you paying?" With a chuckle I said "of course." We met at Bahama Breeze and had the best dinner together. We laughed and carried on conversations with no breaks. It was the perfect dinner and she was looking amazing. Afterwards we saw the movie "O' Brother Where Art Thou" which was a great movie with great music in it. It was by far the best date I had ever been on and it happened on a whelm. After the movie I drove her back to her car, and while still in my truck we leaned in and kissed. Not gonna lie, it was great kiss. The next couple of weeks we talked a great deal, and went out even more. We soon started "dating" but in doing so I broke one of the worse "man rules" you could break. We started dating two days before Valentines Day. BEFORE VALENTINES DAY, man rule # 23545 says that you either break up with a girl prior to Valentines Day or start a relationship afterwards, but never ever just before. Regardless of the decision to pursue the relationship at that time a relationship was still born. It was a relationship that ignited years before when a blind arrogant teenager had his blinders lifted to reveal the future that was before him. And so began the courtship that would change my life forever.