Dayenu

Dayenu is a Hebrew word meaning, "it would have been enough" or "it would have been sufficient."

As I attempt to continue telling our story, alone, I do not want to get caught up in the tragedy.  We have had so many miracles in our lives; I want to give them voice.  We are both still living, therefore, hope remains that God will do even greater works...

But, the message of Dayenu is, even if He choses not to do even greater works, what He has already done is sufficient, it really is enough.

The song, usually sung during Passover celebrations, generally goes something like this (from jewish.com)

Had God brought us out of Egypt and not divided the sea for us,
Dayenu! [It would have been sufficient]

Had God divided the sea and not permitted us to cross on dry land,
Dayenu! [It would have been enough]

Had God kept us for forty years in the desert and not fed us with manna,
Dayenu! [It would have been sufficient]

Had God fed us with manna and not given us the Sabbath,
Dayenu! [It would have been enough]

Had God given us the Sabbath and not led us to Mount Sinai,
Dayenu! [It would have been sufficient]

Had God led us to Mount Sinai and not given us the Torah,
Dayenu! [It would have been sufficient]

Had God given us the Torah and not led us into the Land of Israel,
Dayenu! [It would have been enough]

Had God led us into the Land of Israel and not built for us the Temple,
Dayenu! [It would have been sufficient]

Had God built for us the Temple and not sent us prophets of truth,
Dayenu! [It would have been enough]...

The song continues from there to go through the many great miracles of God, and how He could have stopped at any of them, and it would have been enough, but He continued working, blessing, providing, teaching, loving, and finally provided "His son, in whom we have all sufficiency."  And even today, He is still continuing His Great Work.

That said, on with the story:
January first, Caleb and I met.
We didn't say much.  The trip began without much incident, a group of thirty strangers takes a while to find a groove.

Around the second week, I was riding with my group, no bathrooms in sight, in a particularly wooded area...

All five girls in my group stopped to "squat" and I happened to be the only one who "squatted" in the wrong spot.  I ended up with poison oak right on my rump; right on the part of my rump that rubbed against a bike seat...

I am a very stubborn and long-suffering person.  I had it in my mind that I was going to ride every one of the 1,100 miles.  Even with a patch of seeping poison oak, I continued to ride.  One day, two days... then, that night I could hardly sleep because of the intense itching and seeping due to riding on it all day.
Also, I had to wash my bike shorts out, because we only had two pairs, but laundry was only done every 4-6 days or so.  My mom was too busy to help me find a laundry mat.  We would often after joke about how she recruited Caleb, "Oh, Caaaaylub, Lindsay needs some help, do you have any time right now?" My cheeks were on fire! (The set not covered in poison oak, of course).

Limping along beside this quiet guy, awkward and seeping from a palm-sized wound on my tushy, he broke the silence by remembering it was his father's birthday, January 13.  Whew.
He called home while I loaded the washing machine.  I sat beside him and listened to the conversation.  His little sister answered.  He was so kind and funny to her!  I had a grumpy older brother who didn't really have much time for his little sisters (granted, we were super close in age and super annoying on purpose), to see a guy who enjoyed hearing about what his baby sister was up to was endearing.  I started to notice he had these awesome blue eyes, and his jaw line was nicely defined...

(This is from long after the bike trip ended, I was way too shy to get my picture with him during the trip... but, look at that handsome face! ;))

Anyway, my clothes finished up in the washer, and we moved them to the dryer as we walked around a bit, making awkward small talk.  I mentioned that I didn't think I could ride on the wound anymore, it was too miserable... I was admitting defeat, I was going to sag.
(Sag was the term we used to say "ride in the van that follows the last group." People who couldn't ride had to sag. It was a big, white, 15 passenger van.  Here is the only picture I have of the sag wagon in all its glory, someone snapped it of Caleb and some of the staff after a grocery run.)

I remember, to this day, the look on Caleb's face when I mentioned sagging.  He was thinking hard, almost an inner battle. Finally, he said, "well, I'm not driving tomorrow, it's my day to ride.  Why don't I let you borrow a pair of my baggy shorts and you can see if that helps.  Then, if you're still miserable, you can sag while I'm driving."
It was an innocent suggestion.
And those eyes...
Of course I rode my bike, in misery, the following day.  The baggy shorts did nothing to lessen the misery, but Caleb rode with our group that day... and pushed me up the hills.
The following day, we drove down the sunny coast.  The windows were rolled down.  Oldies were blaring in the van.  We were both singing at the top of our lungs, laughing, singing, sharing stories...
It was awesome.

I was a shy, driven, straight A student, this was a new thing for me.  I loved it.  Nothing in the world was putting any pressure on me, and this guy was fun, spontaneous and well... gorgeous!
I remember, we stopped at a little grocery store for lunch.  We bought some peanut butter, jelly and bread.  That was it.  When we were back on the highway, Caleb asked me to make the sandwiches, and I started laughing because we didn't have a knife. I probably tried to be witty, but was instead extremely nerdy...  I remember feeling silly and giddy.
Caleb found the spoon that he had used for breakfast, licked it off, and handed it to me.
I wasn't even grossed out... well, not terribly grossed out...
What a day.  Sun, surf, and poison oak.
It was over after that, for me anyway.  Caleb enjoyed getting to know all the girls on the trip, but I was won.
The rest of the trip I was either fighting to try to keep my distance and not make a fool of myself or doing something terribly embarrassing like...stealing Caleb's hat, and running away (what, is this grade school!?)  I tried to "play it cool," even though I had absolutely no idea what cool even looked like.  But I thought I was being aloof.
Except when I totally wasn't. My flirting consisted of stealing his hat!
Oye.
My sister was so embarrassed for me when we got home and my mother told her of my attempts at flirting...
Yup.
We were babies, practically, at least I was.
But obviously it worked... 
Well, it almost didn't, but that is for another day.