I walked back home from work that evening, extremely tired and miserable. My manager, Lee had been especially horrible to me all through the day; changing the deadlines that two of my reports were due by, without even having the courtesy to inform me earlier and then coming to me just before close of business to inform me. It was the worst day I had had in a long time.
I decided to stop by the Fish and Chips shop- the last thing I could imagine doing when I got home was cooking. Guess what? The shop was closed! You can only imagine my rage at that point.
"I hate living in this so called posh areas. How is it that there is only ONE fish 'n' chips shop and it closes at 10pm? I fumed as I wondered if the day could get anymore worse. But hey, I was wrong. Less than 2 minutes to my final destination, some man in a white Range Rover thought it nice to ask me for directions to an area I've only lived in for two weeks? Oh you guessed right, I gave him a piece of my mind and stormed off.
Fast forward three weeks after that incident and I was out visiting a client site. Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm a Management consultant. My iPhone battery was flat and I stupidly did not copy off the address to where I was going before my phone went off. Having said that though, it was Canary Wharf and someone was bound to know where KPMG was, I thought to myself.
"Hi, sorry to interrupt you, but do you know where KPMG is? I asked two men sat in Wasabi having what seemed like lunch, a rather early lunch I'd say as it was only 11:46am. But that's besides the point.
"Oh no, that's fine. KPMG is just round the corner. Take this exit and..." suddenly he stopped and began starring at me intently.
"You look really familiar, have we met? He asked me.
"Err, I wouldn't have thought so. But it's...." he cut me off before I finished.
"Oh yes I remember" he started off. "Look how the tides have turned now? I can't believe you'd ask me for directions". I was completely lost. I had no clue what he was on about.
"I'm not quite sure what you're referring to?" I smiled.
"Well, three weeks ago? In Brentwood? Late at night? White Range? Directions?" he replied.
Immediately, it all came rushing back. I remembered vividly what he was talking about.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. I had a particularly bad day. I'm not like that, I promise" I was genuinely sorry.
Long story short, he made me give him my contact number before he carried on with the description to KPMG. Truth be told though, I wanted to give it to him.
Toby (yes, that's his name)
was is every inch a gentle man. Pull out chairs for me on dates, hold the door open while I walked majestically into his car and most importantly- he was a tongue-speaking, Spirt-filled born again Christian. I had one thing against him though, he has this 'I know best attitude'.
I mean the other day, on our way back from dinner on a Friday night. I advised him to go through the B186 route which is hardly ever busy, rather than the M25 which mostly has traffic on Friday and Saturday nights. After we argued about it for a few minutes and in a civil manner, I must add, next thing he says "I'm telling you M25 is the best route". It wasn't so much about what he said but how he said it. Honestly, I was a bit scared. Immediately, he began apologising and telling me how it's an issue for him. He said he's talked to God about it and he is really working on it as it stops him from being a good team player. In his own words, "and I know marriage is all about team work" he said with a big grin. I smiled and began making my way out of the car as we had now reached my flat. Just before I could get out, he pulled me back gently and said "you do know I'm going to marry you, right?". I laughed so hard, trying hard to ignore all the butterflies in my stomach "we're talking marriage now are we?" I said, as I was rather lost for words. I hastily made my way out of the car before he got a chance to answer back.
I lay on my bed that night, grinning sheepishly and tossing left and right on my king sized bed. I couldn't believe how God had blessed me with the most amazing man the world. "But Daddy, that weakness he's got is quite a big deal" I said to God. "We're working on it" I heard the Holyspirt whisper back. I sent one quick text, just to thank him for a wonderful night just before I slept off.