Once Upon a Time, There Was A Castle In The Clouds. It Was The Story of Us

Once upon a time, in a mountaintop kingdom whose towers stood gracefully among the clouds of Lookout Mountain, Georgia, there was a very tall and dashingly handsome young lad named Joel.

Joel had come to this mountaintop kingdom, known to many as Covenant College, to study under the masters of engineering.

Covenant College was a place of renown, a place not for the faint of heart. And yet those who entered knew that they were being called to a higher purpose – one of learning to think, learning to learn, and learning to see faith and God more clearly. And to serve the world by giving it yet another SIP paper, of course.

The historic title of “The Castle In The Clouds” fit this kingdom so perfectly. As it was, the sun shone brightly and the tower granted a view of miles into the heart-warming valleys below – but mostly when the parents dropped their freshman prince and princesses off in the sun-kissed month of August.

Once the real grind came – and walks along the wooded paths gave way to late nights in the royal library, even later night study groups in the basement of Mills, and – every once in awhile – a Caudle Room study break where the court jesters would occasionally thrill their fans with an appearance. During these deep months of winter, the gathering clouds turned this small and mighty kingdom into a fortress of fog.

Clouds embracing a castle land sounds more romantic than fog, but some days (especially by the eighth or ninth day straight of the dark mist) it felt like just plain “fog”. But we digress.

Joel spent a happy year serving under the masters. New friends, ultimate frisbee, and an ample number of snacks from The Blink – Joel thought he had it all.

Until Princess Amber stepped foot onto these royal grounds, bright faced, confident, and ready to take on the world.

Okay, who are we kidding here? Princess Amber didn’t step foot onto these royal grounds without wiping away more than a few tears as her parents hugged her goodbye and tried not to look into the rearview mirror as they made their way back to the Van Vuren homeland – a mere 12 hour journey away.

But Princess Amber had both big dreams and a big brother that she adored. And as this big brother was as smart as he was kind, and he knew what to do. Pulling out a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, he gave a smile and walked off to find a shady spot on the chapel lawn to break out a few cream-filled-chocolate-covered morsels of temptation.

A few doughnuts and brotherly pep talks later, things looked a little less bleak.

And so Princess Amber began her own journey to higher intelligence and spending way too much money on textbooks at the Tuck Shoppe because Amazon wasn’t quite a fix-all thing yet.

This handsome young Joel didn’t take too long to notice Princess Amber. He kind of had it made. Since Amber’s adored big brother Luke, who was friends with Joel’s big brother Benjamin – who became one of Princess Amber’s best friends… Joel quickly found himself smitten with this quiet study-a-holic girl who came to her brother’s apartment to raid his pantry in search of chocolate chips after anatomy lab.

And it was within in this circle of friends – from Psalm Club afternoons to Sunday night grilled cheese sandwiches crafted by Chef Benjamin – that Joel and Princess Amber began to secretly wish to be noticed by the other. But God has his own timing, and it took a peppermint carnation to get the story started.

This is how the story goes: Princess Amber had a best friend. And the combination of being roommates, best friends, and health majors meant that Princess Amber and Queen Hope were pretty much together 24/7. And together they were much more fearless than when they were not. Queen Hope helped bring out the fun and slightly crazy side of Princess Amber, and most of the best royal adventures came when they were together.

And so came one cold, foggy day in February – one of the days when you took a detour to The Great Hall for dinner because the mountain’s winter winds made the Carter Wind Tunnel shortcut less appealing – a single carnation would change the world.

The Royal Department of Sociology was doing a fundraiser to gather enough taxes to fund one of their projects. As Queen Hope and Princess Amber ate the last crumbs of their chocolate cake and put their dishes in that amazing little window where they were magically whisked away and cleaned, a fellow student called their names:

“Hey sweet ladies of valor! Today’s the last day to send somebody a carnation for Valentine’s Day! Come bring your mite to contribute to our grand project.”

Or something like that.

And so with a giggle, Queen Hope and Princess Amber made their way over to the table and contemplated who would receive the golden carnations.

Oh, so many of their guy friends would get a kick out of a deliciously secret carnation from an anonymous benefactress. As Queen Hope made her selection, Princess Amber decided that there was only one choice for her.

And so came the one scribbled word that changed her future forever. Addressing the card to “Joel” and writing nothing else, she picked out a peppermint carnation.

“Secret Admirer”, declared the display of the meaning of each color carnation.

The next day, a single peppermint carnation with a single-word note came to rest outside the humble abode of that tall, handsome lad Joel.

Princess Amber went about her merry way, giggling with Queen Hope late into the night with Anatomy textbooks that were almost too heavy to carry to class.

And because God meant for young Joel to sweep Princess Amber off her feet, the inquisitive lad did a little inscription investigation. Comparing the scribbled word “Joel” to the writing he saw on a birthday card Princess Amber and Queen Hope had handcrafted months before, he started to put pieces together.

And so the hero of our story gathered up the courage to ask Princess Amber to be his girlfriend.

The rest is history, and peppermint carnations still show up every year on our anniversary. They had a special place in Princess Amber’s wedding bouquet, and she gets sentimental when she eats red and white striped candy canes.

This magical land of Covenant College has become a lasting piece of our story and a piece of our hearts.

*hugs*

Amber