Our Story: Part 1

This is long. It's going to be long. I don't blame you if you don't stick it through. In the beginning I thought, I should do it like all the big bloggers do... posting a new chapter on Wedding Wednesday every week or something. And then I thought, I'm not a big blogger. I'm just writing this for my own enjoyment. And if you happen to be entertained as well... well, I'm not complaining! So, here goes nothing.

just me. being a freshman.

Most people can answer the question, “how did you meet?” pretty easily. They say, “oh, we met at a party,” or “mutual friends set us up, and the rest is history!” But for me, the answer to that question could go on and on… and let’s be honest, for that reason alone, it should be written down.

Let me start by saying, this is a story of redemption, growing up, forgiveness, and finding someone you can talk to for hours and hours. And the moral, I’ll tell you right now, is that everything happens for a reason.

The easiest place for me to start in this story is December of 2008. I was home for Christmas, from my freshman year of college, and a friend from high school had invited me to his Christmas party. I’ve never been one for parties, really, but my friend Brianna was going, and I hadn’t seen her in a while, so we decided to go together. However, another motivation for me was the fact that my roommates from school wanted to go on a roommate date to Temple Square the next weekend, and I still needed a date. I went there with the sole purpose of getting Kenny – the kid who threw the party – to go with me. But you know, sometimes when you plan, it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would!

Brianna and I were sitting on the couch, catching up on life. She had gone to BYU, while I went up north to USU, so there was a good amount of things to say to each other. In the middle of this, a boy named Eric came and sat next to me. We talked for a while, and even though I had always thought Eric was cute, I had no interest in him. (Mostly because ALL girls loved Eric, and I didn’t feel like adding myself to the fan club.) However, in the middle of that, another boy named Alex came and planted himself right between Eric and I! I was surprised, but I knew Alex from up at school, and didn’t think much of it. Eric left, disappointed, I’m sure. A mutual friend of Alex’s and mine named Cody came and sat with us, and I ended up spending the majority of the party talking with them. What we talked about, I don’t recall. I’m sure it ended up being a reminiscence of high school English class with Cody, and whatever Alex threw into the conversation. Eventually Alex got up and left, and it was getting late, and I had barely said a word to Kenny. It just so happened that Cody asked me on a date! He made it so easy for me. At the end of the night, I had a date with Cody set up for New Year’s Eve, and he would also be accompanying me on my roommate date. Mission accomplished.

Cody and I had been friends since junior year of high school. We had two classes together, and I just happened to think he was the funniest person alive. He was the kid I wanted to be friends with really bad, so I somehow wormed my way into his group of friends. To this day, we still don’t know how this happened. We had a really good time on the roommate date, but the second date didn’t go as well. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t the most fun either of us had ever had… mostly comprising of dinner plans that failed so we ended up with Panda Express, and a depressing movie about World War II to subdue us for the rest of New Year’s Eve, which we spent apart from each other, with our separate groups of friends.

Going back up to school was tough for me. Leaving my family is something I never enjoy doing, but luckily, I had an amazing group of friends and roommates at school to keep me distracted and less homesick. Reading my journal, at the beginning of the year, it seems my only goal was to find someone to date. I had numerous boys in my many classes that I was flirting with. You know, it was the beginning of a new year, I’m sure I thought that would be the best way to start the year off with. And it didn’t help that due to a series of events where I wasn’t all that worried about boys, and I was terribly shy, I had never held a boys hand, cuddled, or kissed anyone. In fact, I gave Cody a high five at the doorstep… a scene which he has still not forgiven me for.

Alex, from school who sat by me at the party, had started hanging around my apartment. He was funny, and I liked having him around, but one day after he left, I remembered something. This was something I had repressed for years. A memory all the way from back when I was fifteen years old. I had an honors English class taught by an older woman named Mrs. King. She was a tough teacher, and at first, none of us liked her. But she grew on me, as most people I dislike in the beginning do, and I respected her. She had this funny poster in her room of a bus with little children hanging out of it. One of those cartoon posters Elementary teachers hang up in their classrooms. If you were a good student, you got your picture on the bus. If not, you got a stamp on your hand. One day, the bus got stolen...

to be continued...

p.s. congratulations if you have made it this far. i promise it just gets better from here.