After reading the closing of Chris's blog post today, I thought of my first boyfriend, John.
John and I met at church camp one summer. I liked him a lot, and I was pretty sure he liked me, so I pursued him. I was 14. He was 13.
John lived about 30-40 minutes from me, so calling him was kind of long distance at the time. Or so my parents informed me. We weren't able to see one another regularly, sο we wrote a lot of letters (how quaint, how very 1980s) back and forth. A LOT.
Remember how we met at church camp? (Or, church-based camp, I should say. That particular week was called "Creative Arts Thing.") Yeah, well, I was a preacher's kid, and I was about as interested in being a Christian as I was, oh, I don't know. Think of something not very interesting and you'll have found a decent comparison.
John always signed his letters to me "In Christ, John". I reciprocated for a while, but it never felt right.
I remember when my high school girlfriend moved about 30-40 minutes away. It was long-distance calling. That was when I got my first job--to pay for the phone bill!
Her parents were very strict, so when I mailed letters, I had to address them to the neighbor kid, who would pass them to her over the backyard fence.
Posted by: Emil | January 29, 2008 at 16:54
I know how you feel. I was never deeply invested in my faith when I was younger. As I've gotten older, though, I've definitely become much more spiritual. I live by Denise's Rule of Faith, though: I don't care what you believe, just keep it to yourself. For me, religion/spirituality/faith is a very personal thing. I'd prefer not to have anyone preach or proselytize to me, and would never dream of doing so either.
And don't get me started on separation of church and state! ;-)
Posted by: Denise | January 29, 2008 at 20:47
I'm just a ten commandments kinda girl... Don't kill anyone, don't lie, don't sleep with somebody else's spouse, ya know!
Posted by: Audra | January 29, 2008 at 20:58
I don't care much for the ostentatious religion stuff--don't TELL me, show me. And I'm not a fan of organized religion because of what it does to some people.
Posted by: Margaret | January 29, 2008 at 21:13
The blog post from Chris was CLASSIC! Unfortunately, there are MANY people out in public now that behave that way!
Posted by: Audra | January 30, 2008 at 00:47
Ugh. That closing makes me feel icky.
In Buddha,
Catheroo
Posted by: Catheroo | January 30, 2008 at 01:23
I have a blog post to write about this because all the expat women I´ve met here in Mexico are for some odd reason hardcore Christians. I have to admit it makes me uncomfortable when they say things like¨"You know I just prayed really hard and we found this house to rent and the school for our little Noah..." It´s hard for me to know what to say when they say things like that and they say things like that all the time.
Posted by: misschrisc | January 30, 2008 at 12:13
This has nothing to do with religious camp romance, but I remember going to music camp in 8th and 9th grade and making a ton of friends from all over the state. We stayed in touch by letter for years. There was even one who lived in Bellevue to whom I wrote about every other day - -and she reciprocated.
All of that does seem quaint now. It's kind of sad.
Posted by: Betty C. | January 30, 2008 at 14:42
i often sign emails with your friend in jesus, leslie when i don't want to hear back from them.
Posted by: madame l. | January 31, 2008 at 00:43
LOL.
Posted by: booby gonzales | March 02, 2008 at 03:45