She was lovely, intelligent, and very creative. Her skill set as a writer stimulated my attention. However, she was my student, and it was as a student that I thought of her. . . and only as a student. I was teaching apologetics at Tyndale Seminary and she was one of my best students.
Time passed and she invited me out for coffee to interview me for a paper she was writing. She was by this time a former student and I began to think of her a little differently. However, if I am honest, I asked her out on New Year’s Eve in an attempt to punish someone who had rejected me. Not the most noble of beginnings.
On New Year’s Eve I picked her up and we went to the Harvest Baptist Church in Watauga for dinner and a concert. It was a nice evening. However, I had a head cold, there weren’t many sparks, and as far as I was concerned we had not connected. . . and were not going to. But, then she called and invited me for a home-cooked dinner.
Her cooking was bad, seriously bad, but I found her company delightful, and we began to date. We had much in common and our affections grew rapidly. At that time I had accepted a job in Westwood, California so we had to make a decision on what we were going to do about our relationship. We decided to marry.
Now, to tell my parents. How to tell my parents? Susan was at that time an actress in The Promise in Glen Rose. In addition to the regular production in the Texas Amphitheatre she had traveled with them to Russia and performed at the Kremlin. She played a tambourine dancer in this Christian passion play. So, I called my parents and told them I was marrying an exotic dancer.
Silence, a deafening silence. . . . . . . I began to think they had fainted dead-away on the other end of the telephone line. Not wanting to be guilty of parracide, I hastened to explain.
Susan and I were married and shortly thereafter we moved to Michigan (not California as we had planned). 1994 was the last year in which Susan performed in The Promise.
Well, life has a way or spiraling around through familiar territory. Today, The Promise in Glen Rose announced their cast for the 2006 production. Among the cast are Parker Stilley (crowd), Tessa Stilley (Jairus daughter), and Susan Stilley (tambourine dancer). It has been awhile, but once again, I can say that “I am married to an exotic dancer.”
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