Maybe I'm getting more sentimental as the years go by, or maybe it's because Mike is away on his once-a-year business trip and I miss him, but all day long I've been thinking about when we first met. It was fourteen years ago this month. In other words, we were babies.
Our meeting took place like this:
First: the grass outside of the old entrance to the library at BYU, Freshman Orientation Week. I see a boy in a blue Halley's Comet tee and a backpack. He is alone. I am with my brand new friends, standing on the steps that lead down to the grass. We are in a crowd, but amazingly, there is no one between us. I have a clear view of his bright blue eyes. We smile.
Second: passing through the Canon Center, Helaman Halls. I see that boy again. This time he is walking with a girl. I probably hate her. (I don't really.) Could he possibly live in my dorm? (He didn't.)
Third: Club Omni, Provo's hottest (and only) dance spot. It's ladies night. And there he is, dressed to the nines in disco attire. He is standing with a friend, watching some break dancers. I think that maybe if I go stand next to him, he'll notice me. (He doesn't.)
Fourth: the Fall Fling. I am dancing with my sister and some friends. The entire population of Provo surrounds us. I can't believe it, but there he is, dancing right next to me. I whisper to my sister that this is the boy I keep seeing everywhere. A slow song comes on. She makes me ask him to dance. (I do.)
I know this sounds lame, but I knew there was something special about him the first time I saw him. My first semester at BYU was spent strategically being in the right place so that I would "bump" into him between classes. And then he moved home. And went on a mission. And I dated some other guys. I will forever be grateful that he forgot that I had stopped writing him halfway through his mission and called me when he got home.
He is the best thing that ever happened to me.
Ok. Your turn. What's your story?
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SWEETEST THING EVER...this story! I love it. You guys are so cute.
ReplyDeleteMy story? First time I noticed Darren (BIG guy) was on the spring kiddy toys at the park right by your house (you know the ones). He practically bent it over sideways. Oh yes, he had me at that moment. :)
Oh my goodness, Ashley! I love it. I will forever think of you two when I see those things at the park. :)
ReplyDeleteYou inspired me. I'm really missing Robby too, so I'm gonna post our story tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAt least I hear this years retreat, so far, isn't as boring as last year.
I'm glad you had so many chances to see him. But I want to know, did he ask you out after you asked him to dance, or did it take a while of bumping into him still?
ReplyDeleteWe met at a Young Single Adult Family Home Evening. We were with a small group of friends and we started talking to each other. I didn't know who he was. I'd heard his name before. After we were done talking I said to myself, "Wow, I actually had a good conversation with that guy. Who is he?!" I later asked my friend who he was and then my home teachers put the bug in his ear to ask me out. Little did I know that he noticed me for the first time a few months before that when I was speaking at church...as he sat next to his girlfriend at the time.
It's funny how it all works out, even though it seems like it takes forever in the meantime.
Courtney, he asked me out the very next night. :)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, you and keith are one of the most perfect couples I've ever met! You were destined for each other.
This was so sweet! :) I met my husband on LDS Linkup for the first time (*blushing*) and then in Sweden, when my cousin introduced us and I knew that I had met my future husband. :)
ReplyDeleteSenja
I saw my husband for the first time when he walked into church with my former roommate. I only saw the back of the head, but it was a very good looking head...kind of like superman's. So my friend introduced us a few days later, and in a week we were inseparable. A week later he found out he'd be moving to another state 4 months when he completed training, and I said I wouldn't do long distance, and I wouldn't move unless there was a ring on my finger. Needless to say, he put a ring on my finger, and here we are, two years, two states, and one foreign country later...
ReplyDeleteaww...such a great story. i love how you told it here.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, that does not sound lame...if it does, than I am too, because I feel the same way. My story is much like yours, I will have to write it out one day.
ReplyDeleteI love that picture!
i didn't know you had seen mike so many times before that! i thought it was only once. that was a magical night! love you guys.
ReplyDeleteI love your story. And that picture is so adorable. You look the same! Just different hair. You two are such a good example of marriage and family to me. :) xoxo
ReplyDeleteMet because of friends of friends. Went on an awful first date..i fell asleep..he called me the very next day.
ReplyDeleteI love stories like this. Thanks for sharing. I like: "I probably hate her."
ReplyDeleteLast year I wrote our story for our blog (it's a tab--"our Story"). My husband got tears in his eyes when he read it--I was a little afraid he'd have different memories of what had all happened that long ago, but he agreed with it all.
I met Doug at "The Rock Garden" in Provo. I was there with another guy but I hoped he (Doug) wouldn't notice. We chatted while watching some super ripped guy with long hair and no shirt on scaling a super hard climb.
ReplyDeleteMy roommate, pointing at shirtless guy, commented about how she'd love to go out with him. I pointed at cute, clean cut, shirted Doug and said I wanted to go out with him. As we were both leaving, he asked if I'd like to go climbing that weekend. I said YES and quickly gave him my number. We were married 4 months later and I've been thankful every.single.day that I was lucky enough to snatch him! (And he's SUPER lucky to have me!!!)
This picture of my very special granddaughter and her future husband is so precious. Steph you are adorable and Mike is handsonme. I am so glad that you two are as one and I love you both.
ReplyDeleteGrammy
Aaron and his roommate sat next to me in sacrament meeting in the singles ward and we talked briefly. During the opening hymn I heard a little voice say, "You're going to marry him." Five and a half months later I did exactly that.
ReplyDeleteYou guys were (and are!) so darling. I love your story!
Oh the usual. He was mission companions with my high school boyfriend. My high school boyfriend married my husbands sister. My high school boyfriends kids are my niece and nephew.
ReplyDeletei saw bret at our companys xmas party in 2006 (i didnt work there yet, i was the bosses nanny though and brought the kids), i thought he was hot and instantly felt a connection to him..no joke! 1 year later he quit that job and a year and a few months i started working there. about 1 year went by and the hot guy from the xmas party was back working for my company and BAM! we started talking on our work chat, becasme really good friends, i told him i would NEVER date him........and now we're engaged!
ReplyDeletethat is so sweet. thanks for sharing that story. Eric and I met at school and were in the same ward. Lots of girls liked him.. so I found out after we started dating. Girls came up to me and would tell me in a "nice way" they were sad we are dating cause they wanted to date him. Awkward!!! After dating a while I knew he was the man for me after he met my sister becca with downs and treated her like a person and was so kind to her. I could go on and on about him, but thats the short story.
ReplyDeleteRyan and I met when he was a freshman and I was a junior at BYU. We were in a play together and I just thought he was so goofy. We ended up working on a lot of projects together that year and that led to hanging out a lot. He always called and invited me places,and I always went but it wasn't dating. I called him my "freshman fanclub."
ReplyDeleteWe both went on missions that summer and wrote a few times but basically lost touch.
2 years later and we are back at BYU but not connected. I was in a play and he came to see it. As he was leaving he stood right in front of me, just grinning. I had no idea it was him. That goofy boy had grown into quite a man. I went home that night and told my friends to call me Mrs. Stewart. I was right.
i loved hearing your stories! thank you for sharing. it is so neat that we all just kind of "knew". yay for love!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I just celebrated 15years on the 20th, and this is a marriage that was destined to be. We were both in the ARMY when we met, and for the first few weeks my husband couldn't remember my name. He always called me "Hey" because it was the one thing I always responded to. He even had his sergeant "Hey, Hey, I'll let him know you're here" "Hey, Hey, you doing alright?". A few months into our dating, we discovered that we were in our job training together in San Antonio at the same time, in the very same Company. He had a picture of the entire Company, he's on one side of the bleachers and I'm on the other side. We didn't even know each other then, but he remembers my bunkmate. Then, we found out that we both enlisted on the same day (him in Texas, me in Colorado), left for Basic Training on the same day, and had the same exit date out of the Army. No one we knew ever expected us to last, considering the rate of divorce in the military, but here we are 15 years later. And I know he knows my name by now, but I've only heard him call me by it when he's talking to other people.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just me, but I think there's that one-of-a-kind feeling for everyone upon meeting one's future spouse. When I reflect back on it, I know that there was "something different about this guy..."
ReplyDelete