And Jonathan too...

My first memory of Jonathan, straight up, is this:

I had to sit next to him in our 5th grade social studies class, where the seats were alphabetically arranged (Moody -> Mooradian), and I recall that I thought he smelled funny, a mix between apples and b.o.

I remember at some later point that first week of middle school that I gave a poem to my teacher for her to read, and she informed me that another student had also given her a poem and that we might should become friends, and that his name was Jonathan Moody.

I recall from these days that he wore huge shirts, used to pick a word out of the dictionary each day (or week?) and use it as his exclamation - as in "Oh pumperknickle!"

I remember he told me he wrote poetry and that he brought me an example one day - a very lengthy and illustrated poem about a dragon, and I think that was when I first got a crush on Jonathan Moody (although, truth be told, I was only ten and he was not the only boy I had a crush on, of course).

I started calling him - never by myself - it was always three way calls with Mary Tek or Sally Wilson - and basically tried every annoying and typical preteen girl tactic under the sun to try and get his attention. I remember at the end of sixth grade during one such phone call I told him I thought he should stop jelling his hair, and that the next day, the last day of school, he came without jell and I wondered if maybe he DID care about me.

But all of this was very silly.

He encouraged me to start attending youth group more regularly - I had only been a casual attender previously - and I cannot imagine how much said encouragements have shaped my life and what sort of adolescence I would have had if Belmont youth hadn't been a part of it.

Throughout seventh and eighth grade we became better friends as a result of this - talked more about things that actually mattered. I grew increasingly impressed with him: his straight A's, his sweet saxaphone skills and his jazz band, his musical taste. We realized we had a lot of the same values - values that maybe are a little outside of what is normal - that include a love of the land, and farming, and love for simplicity, a dislike of materialism, and an overall enthusiasm to know and see the world and better understand its beauty.

We both had these sorts of things figured out at a very young age.

And so the summer before my freshman year of high school, we went on a mission trip to Mexico, where we spent every day together, grew closer through sharing some intense experiences there, and on the last night in Mexico as the guys and girls were separating to go to bed, he hugged me very intensely and intimately - our first ever hug - and whispered softly in my ear, "I love you."

It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

And so today is his birthday, and he is twenty one, and he is not a little boy anymore, as he was when we met, but something more closely resembling a man.

And I have never known a better man.

He has striven for academic and moral perfection as long as I've known him, and has been able to achieve something close to it with relative ease. As he's grown older, he has grown more independent, and strives to determine solidly for himself what is right and what is wrong.

Jonthan is adventurous. He has been to Mexico five times on mission trips, one of which lasted over a month in the very isolated town of Juxtlahuaca. And now he is in Spain, and where as I have had Hanna with me this whole time, he went without knowing a soul and has already made so many friends!

His skills as a musician are and have always been amazing to me. He can decide to start playing an instrument and within a few months he's a master at it. I mean - he can play saxophone (although not lately), guitar, banjo, and recorders EXCELLENTLY. It is amazing to me how easy it comes to him, and he has -par none- my favorite singing voice.

Other skills/hobbies include: moccasin making, crocheting, recorder making, unicycling, bicycling, hiking.



Most importantly, Jonathan is one of the best and most tender people I've ever met - whenever one of our friends has a problem - large or small - he is sincerely concerned and always does his best to help the situation. Rare qualities in a lot of young men these days! He is far kinder than I am - honestly - and has always encouraged me to be better in all of my relationships. He is level headed, full of discernment, and always seeking God. He is a loyal, loyal friend and son and brother.


And Jonathan is an excellent boyfriend. The best I've ever heard tell of. He is always so attentive, so giving of his time, so complimentary. He has only ever made me happier, made my life less anxious and more rich, and this is the way all relationships should be. I feel so blessed to have gotten to have a relationship as good as this - it was nothing that we've had to work too hard at - and yet I can say that we've been passionately in love for six years. And that is rare and magical.

So when, as has happened, someone asks me if I've wearied of dating the same person for such a large portion of my life, the response is always an emphatic NO! because Jonathan is one of the most interesting people the world over. In the past six years, his personality has remained endearingly the same, while his spirituality, his morality, his social conscience have matured and grown and his interests have bounced all over the place.

I am so so happy and proud of the 21 year old he has become, love him so much, and cannot wait to see what the future holds for him!!!