Hello!! Lindi here.
First, congratulations to the winners from my #giveaway from August’s post! Trixi and purplemeri65. I hope you enjoy the book! :)
Now, on to #truspiring!
I have four children. Three girls, one boy. And the boy is the youngest.
He was married on 9-10-11 to an amazing girl. He was 25, she was 23. They met at college and I posted about how he asked her out in an earlier blog post. They are adorable and made for each other.
When they were married six months, they moved to Chicago, Illinois. No jobs, no friends, just each other and a studio apartment. They found jobs right away and made friends quickly, too. Three and a half years later they are moving back to Atlanta.
They’ve had a great life in Chicago, made it through the winters, tried lots of amazing restaurants. They are foodies for sure. My son is in the restaurant business and he’s been privileged to work under some of the greatest chefs in the US.
Why am I going on about this? Just a little background. You see, my son’s wife, Sarah, posted on FB that they are moving back to Atlanta. She had quite the post about their journey as young newlyweds moving to the city and how it affected them. She ended it with these words: “Chicago will always be the city that built us.”
City that built them. I’ve thought a lot about those words as the days have gone by. I’m impressed by their wisdom and sense of adventure. I love that for that integral part of being newlyweds they only had each other. (Us moms were a phone call away, though. :)) I love that these real life scenarios are what inspire us to write about love.
As a writer I spend a lot of time listening to stories about people. Especially how couples meet. I love hearing proposal stories as well. There are so many scenarios that inspire my story world. Readers or writers, what kinds of stories inspire you? Share one if you’d like–it might end up in a book. :) (With proper credit of course!)
#giveaway—2 commenters will win an E
copy of The Little Black Wedding Dress–a reunion romance! #lostlove #thelittleblackweddingdress
USA Today featured author Lindi Peterson lives in north Georgia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with her husband and a lively array of cats, dogs and birds. She loves sharing life with her family and friends. Her passion for reading led her to writing, and then God spoke words of love into her heart and changed her life forever.
Wishing your son and daughter-in-law the best, Lindi. Hopefully they’ll be living close to you.
I love to hear “how we met” stories. Over 25 years ago, a close friend of mine met her husband through the personal ads in a small town paper. That was long before Match.com and all of the other sites that flood the internet.
Hi Linda,
I too have three daughters and one son, but my son is second in birth order. He also is married to a sweet young woman. They meet working at Starbucks.
I will always remember the way my husband proposed. You see he’s not really spontaneous, he’s Japanese so he’s not outgoing , but the way he asked me to marry him is his shining moment!
We both were having a bad week and this was Friday night. Everything that could go wrong did that night and the last was when I went to get in my car and my keys were locked in the car. We finally got them out and I just left. When I got to my home I called him to let him know I made it. This was before cell phones and 30 mins. away. As I was finally starting to fell asleep I heard noise like pebbles hitting my window. I opened up the window and looked down (my room was up stairs) all of a sudden I hear the song, “You Light Up My Life.” I saw him standing with a boombox. I said, “What are you doing?” I told him to go around back and I’d meet him at the door. When I opened the door he said to me, “Marylin, you really do light up my life and I want to live with you forever, will you marry me?” I said, “Yes!” I’m so glad I did because my husband and I have been married for 33 years.
That’s an awesome story!
My husband and I met when we were in tenth grade at a boarding school. We began “dating” in twelfth and were married at 21. Thirty-five years ago in August!
My daughter met her husband on the same campus, where they were both Bible school students. They’ve now been married twelve years and are the parents of two lovely little girls.
My son met his wife in church youth group. I remember the night he came home and told me about the new girl who’d come. He had just turned 14, and she was a few weeks shy of 13!!! They dated on and off through high school and married at 20 and 19 eleven years ago then went off to university together. They now live nearby and have a sweet little daughter whom I get to see nearly every day.
There are so many stories. In my family we were all so young. Why do I feel the need to write couples closer to thirty when I know for a fact that young twenties can make a life-long commitment?
Lindi, what incredible wisdom your son and daughter-in-law have obtained. Chicago may be the city that built them, but I have a feeling that God was the main character in their story. So thankful and excited that He helped them bond in such a way that Chicago is going to be precious to them for the rest of their lives. Thanks for sharing!
Andrea
andrearenee2004@yahoo.com
writingtoinspire.blogspot.com
I enjoyed your post, Lindi. That was so smart of your son and daughter-in-law.
I want everyone to know how impressed by the Little Black Wedding Dress.
If I win please gift my copy to someone else.
I always love stories about chefs because I’;m a loyal Food Network fan.
I enjoyed this, Lindi. And I’ve been so intrigued by your little black wedding dress book cover. What a great concept!
Lindi, I love your son and his wife’s sense of adventure.
What a wonderful illustration of a marriage centered on Christ. I come from a family of 4 children with my brother holding the number three spot. I moved over 9,000 miles away from my family when I married in the early 1980’s. My husband was in the U.S.Army and we were stationed in Northern Germany. Although it was hard during the first Christmas, I loved every minute of living in Germany – exploring the castles and cathedrals, taking ferry rides to Copenhagen Denmark, visiting the seaside villages and cities, sampling and tasting German food again after 10 years and so much more. Unfortunately, my marriage did not end in happily ever after. After the birth of our third child, he announced he no longer wanted a family and left us.
I just saw where I was one of the winners for “The Little Black Wedding Dress” (I’m a little behind on the posts!), so first of all, thank you Lindi! Sounds wonderful and reunion stories are among my favorite!
I’m not sure if this answers your question or not, but the kinds of stories I love to read about are marriage of convenience, mail-order brides, and lost lovers or old flames reuniting, And my favorite genre to read them in is historical…though I do enjoy other genres! What inspires me in reading a book? I love seeing an author play out their characters faith, either they already have a walk with God, or they give their lives to the Lord in the book. I like seeing real life situations happen & how they handle them in the grace of Christ or how they grow in that grace. How their faith grows stronger. I also like when the hero & heroine are like iron sharpening iron….where they remind each other of scripture or help each other through the struggle, pray for one another or maybe search God’s word together for answers :-) That helps remind me that I can do the same thing when life “stuff” happens to me.
I love reading about your son & daughter-in-law :-) Chicago does have some awesome restaurants (not that I would know personally), and being foodies would be such an adventure for them! Sounds like they have had some fun & have grown as a couple. Thanks for sharing about this wonderful couple….you are very blessed indeed! But I bet you already know that ;-)
Jill–They won’t be living far. :) I love the personal ads story. I remember those!!
Marilyn–Oh!! What a story! I love it. :) I remember that song–and throwing pebbles at the window–be still my heart. :) Thank you for sharing! And good luck to your son and his girl. :)
Valerie–you are so right regarding young love! What a testimony your family has to that. Your stories are great! Thanks for sharing.
Andrea–:) Thank you for your kind words. I am going to love having them home.
Thanks, Kimberly. :)
Hi Linda–if you win, you can choose another book! II appreciate you reading The Little Black Wedding Dress! I do like the cooking shows. So many great ideas!!!
Thank you, Lee. I’m always looking for play on words. And when I looked up what it meant to wear a black wedding dress, well, that was a story begging to be written. :)
Thanks, Merrillee! They also did an eight week stint in Europe. All very well planned. They had the time of their life. Hostiles and a back pack.
Hello–I’m sorry to hear your marriage didn’t work out. I’m so thrilled your have your three children. And living overseas–I know you have amazing memories. I have never been to Germany, but it’s someplace I have always wanted to visit.
Trixi–Hello there!! I love historicals! My favorite kind of books to read. I can’t imagine writing one, though. But that’s all I read for so many years. I do hope you enjoy The Little Black Wedding Dress. :) Thanks so much for commenting! I also love marriage of convenience stories. :) I haven’t read too many mail order bride stories–I’ll have to check some more out. I know there are some great books out there. :)
I imagine your mama-heart is singing praises right now.
What a great testimony by your daughter in law and son! One of your earlier responders mentioned that God was part of that building process and I have to agree with her. This is a wonderful example to younger couples. I have a young cousin who is divorcing and I want to encourage them both to ‘rebuild’ their marriage instead of giving up. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It just means someone has taken the time to water and fertilize it. Marriages are often the same way. Thanks for the blog!
We met on a blind date, married 2 months later & this month celebrated our 39th anniversary :)