Steven:

I met Carena on the very first day at Lee University in 2014. It was our freshman service project. On the Saturday before school officially starts, Gateway classes go to nursing homes and hang out for a few hours. The members of the nursing home wanted us to sing to them for some reason, and we started to sing the old hymn “I’ll Fly Away.” Halfway through the song, I leaned over to this beautiful girl and asked her if it felt weird that we were singing a song about dying to a group of elderly people. She found me funny and smiled at me. It was at that moment that I knew I was interested in Carena Casey.

Over the next few months of having class together, and I would joke with her, tease her, and flirt with her. The biggest issue was although I loved her to death, it took her about 3 months to even realize that I was interested in her. On November 9th, 2014, I asked her to be my girlfriend in front of the Lee chapel. That year is something that I will always treasure. We were young kids, just being dumb without a single care in the world. I couldn’t count how many nights I had to run back to my dorm smiling because I talked with her until the last possible second before we broke curfew. It seemed like every time we hung out, I fell more in love with woman that God had blessed me with.

After about a year of dating, I was convinced that we were going to get married, but I know she just thought I was a loud kid with a crazy dream. We were young though. We didn’t understand how the world worked, or fully know how to deal with the very real issues that life starts to throw at you when you are entering into your 20’s. I’m thankful that Carena was a more mature person than I was because she knew that we needed time apart to grow and become who God had called us to be. We broke up the end of our sophomore year in college. This lead to a couple years of avoiding each other. Because God has a sense of humor - our junior year, we actually lived across the street from each other. We came to resent each other so much that I would have to look out the window to make sure she wasn’t outside before I ran to my car. In a dramatic fashion, it got to the point where I would claim that I hated her and that she ruined my life. In actuality, I just didn’t want to accept the fact that I pushed away the love of my life. I thought that was how the story of me and Carena would end; she would be “the girl that got away” for the rest of my life.

In December of 2019, I received a notification that @carenakc followed me on Instagram. I looked at my phone, laughed, probably mumbled something under my breath, and forgot about it. It took about 2 days before I started to think about the girl that changed my life that I had forgotten about. It didn’t take more than a few days and she was all that I could think about. It’s funny when you really love someone how when you think about the past, you become hyper focused on the amazing memories you two have created. That’s what I did for about a week. I finally worked up the nerve to message her. I apologized for the way we ended things and talked about how I wish things worked out differently. She apologized too. We made small talk and caught up and that was about it. She was leaving Chattanooga to fly to Dallas to go through Flight Attendant training with American Airlines. I wouldn’t have admitted it to her at the time, but when I found this out, I was a little crushed because any chance of us hanging out again was pretty much gone for good. While she was in training, maybe once a week I would get a message from her or I would see something she posted. She found out that she was getting based in Miami. She moved out there and I was happy for her because I could tell she was happy.

I know that the pandemic of 2020 was a terrible, awful thing. However, I know that I would not be marrying the most beautiful girl in the world if it never happened. Due to the lack of flights, Carena had a lot of down time. A lot of sitting at home, wondering when she would fly, or even if she had a job. I proudly took this opportunity to try and convince her to talk to me as much as possible. I’ll never forget the first night we FaceTimed. As soon as I heard her voice for the first time again, it’s like I was rushed over with past memories of when we were young. That night, we talked on the phone together until almost 5am. I wish I could say the rest was history, but like I mentioned before, she is oblivious to when someone is interested in her. I felt like I practically had to get a notarized letter that said “I, Steven Kendrick, am still in love with you.”

She flew back to Chattanooga to spend time with her family. There is a hibachi restaurant in the city I lived in at the time that she loved and one day, she went to pick up her food. They didn’t put a fork in the bag and obviously, she did not want to wait until she got home to eat it. She messaged me about how sad she was that she didn’t have a fork. I replied and said, “I have plastic forks in my office if you want one.” I wasn’t even at my office, it just was the thing that sounded the most convincing that might get her to come see me. I sped across town to meet her. That day, we hung out together for almost 6 hours. Laughing, joking, and just talking about life. It was in that moment that I knew I had to marry this girl.

There was just one issue with my master plan: she lived in Miami, almost 12 hours away. I’m sure you know that I am a pastor, so I did the only thing I know to do when something is completely out of my control: I prayed that girl home, hard. For over a month straight, we had facetime dates and long conversations every night. I think it was around this time that she started to learn that I wasn’t messing around. I was serious this time, and I wasn’t going to let her go. She called me to let me know that she was being furloughed. When I got that call, I just smiled and said, “oh darn, I guess you have to move home.” When she moved back, I didn’t waste any time. We started dating again very quickly and I started working to buy a ring only three weeks after she moved back. I asked her parents if I could marry her and they said yes, of course. I tricked her into going to a fake vow renewal in Cleveland. We drove through the campus where it all started, seeing all of our usual hang outs spots. I took her to the same place that meant so much to us in our past relationship: the same chapel where I asked her to be my girlfriend in 2014. I asked her a serious question then, and six years later, I was fortunate to ask her the biggest question of my lifetime. The day I asked Carena Casey to marry me will mean so much to me. However, the day I officially marry the woman God made to complete me will be the best day of my life.

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