In Which An Important Revelation is Made, and Cinderannie Muses on Her Strange Thought Processes

First, an update on things pertaining to the last post. I did get my car started, and also have now gotten a new gas cap (a gift from my grandfather) and changed the oil. So my car’s all good now. My shoe I never found – it did look rather beat up and dirty so perhaps someone thought it was abandoned and threw it out. And then I lost the other because I left it in the Toontown breakroom and even though I knew right where I left it and came back first thing when I got to work the next day, it was already gone. So I had to buy new shoes, but my sweet mother gave me money for them.
I have to add a bit of interesting story to the tale of the shoes. I didn’t tell you about this before because I am not the only one in my family with an overactive imagination. But now that it’s over I can tell the whole thing.
A few nights before I lost my shoe (or maybe it was just the night before? I don’t remember), I met a young man from England, another custodial, Andy, down by the custodial clocking-out place. He and I got to talking and ended up riding the bus together. He was talking about various musicians he liked, most of which I had never heard of. Then he asked who I liked, and I said he’d probably never heard of them.
“Try me,” he said.
“Skillet, Flyleaf, Red…” I started to list. And he said,
“Skillet!” and started to sing, “And I rest in the wonder of your love… We sing that in our youth group!” Well! So then he told me all about the youth group he helps lead back home. It was so comforting to hear someone talking about church.
When we got back, I got off the bus first because it stops first at Chatham and Andy lives at Vista Way. So I told him goodbye and went home. Then, a little later when I’d taken a shower and gotten ready for bed and was checking my e-mail and Facebook, I discovered a Facebook message from him saying that I’d left my shoes on the bus, and to call him so I could get them back! Since it was about half an hour after he’d left the message I decided to message him back instead of calling, in case he had gone to bed. The next day we arranged for me to drive by and get my shoes. I was going over there anyway to use the internet. So I went and got my shoes, and ate a strawberry he offered me from the carton of strawberries on the counter, and I felt like he wanted me to stay longer but I wanted to have time on the internet and also time to get ready for work, so I said goodbye and left. And afterward I didn’t know what to think. He was nice, and tolerable looking – and from England! – and I really didn’t feel attracted to him. But I never – or very rarely – feel attracted to someone in the “like” way when I first meet him. It always grows out of a friendship or at least having known them for quite a while. And it’s so frustrating around here (and even in some ways at home), because it seems like if a guy and a girl get along then the expectation is that they get to know each other through dating, but I don’t want to date someone unless I’m possibly going to marry him, and I can’t know that without getting to know him first! So it’s like I have to decide in the first days after I meet a guy whether I like him enough to marry him, and my default reaction is “No, I don’t want to marry this person” – but then I feel guilty, thinking, “well of course you don’t want to marry him now, he’s a stranger, you can’t just write off every guy you ever meet like this” – ugh, it’s terrible. Honestly I’m usually very relieved when a definite reason comes up why I couldn’t marry the person anyway, because then I don’t have to feel guilty for writing them off. Because there have only been two guys in my whole life who I knew for sure that if they wanted to pursue/marry me, I would say yes (and one strong maybe). And sometimes I feel guilty for being too picky or something.
Man, none of this monologue has been about Disney at all. I’m sure you’re all bored to death. But I wanted both to get these thoughts out and to share them with you so that you can share your thoughts and advice on this matter.
So, back to the tale of Andy. We had seen each other around a bit and always said hello and talked. (Well, mostly he talked. He’s very talkative. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it depends on what the person talks about and whether they are talking because they like the subject or just to hear themselves speak.) It was nice but I was still nervous about the possibility of him asking me out, and trying to figure out whether I should be not writing him off.
And then I gave him a ride home the other night, because I had driven, and it’s faster to drive than take the bus home. And as we were driving, we were talking about our plans and dreams about the future. And he said,
“Oh and I just got permission from my girlfriend’s dad to ask her to marry me!”
Well, talk about an “Oh” moment with a capital “O”! The amusing thing was that I felt like I should be sad, but actually what I felt was unqualified relief. So thus ends that aspect of the tale of Andy, although hopefully the friendship will continue – more freely, since I now don’t have to worry about the liking/marriage/romance aspect.
Okay, that’s all for the moment, but soon you’ll get a very enthusiastic update on the greatness of the past week. I thought you might like to read this in the meantime, though.

Oh, and Rad, GB is a Disney-loving man from my church who my family has known – oh for ages, I think. You know, maybe you should all introduce yourselves to each other in your next comments. Various ones of you keep asking who the others are.