Friday, July 11, 2008

Once upon a time... isn't that how every good story begins?


This blog needs to begin somewhere. And I guess a good beginning could be some kind of introduction of the blog's authors.
How about a love story? I know, almost everyone has one, but indulge me! I adore love stories and it would be such fun to share ours...

(By the way, my dear husband is writing his part of the story in regular type, while I am writing my part in italics.)

Nathan and I met May 1st 2006 at a Monday night singles' mix 'n mingle, which was located in the courtyard right outside my apartment. I came out and wandered around for a little while before going to see if there was anything good to eat at the refreshment table.

The gathering was starting to wind down. Since I'd already scoped out the newcomers and made a few acquaintances, I decided to assign myself to "clean up duty" at the refreshment table. After having finished off the last Hawaiian haystack (and everything else for that matter), I looked up and to my surprise, there before me was the girl of my dreams. Where had she come from? She seemed to have just appeared.

There wasn't anything left to eat at the table ( I couldn't really tell what had been there to begin with- something with rice.) I tried to not look disappointed or even as though I had been interested in the first place. A guy at the table with red hair and an even redder beard asked me if I had wanted a haystack so I politely lied and said I hadn't wanted one- in fact I wasn't even hungry. We introduced ourselves and chatted for a while. His roommates came over and he introduced them to me along with a girl he had just met. Within moments his room mates commandeered the conversation and the two of us were standing awkwardly on the fringes as they talked over us. Since I was no longer a part of the conversation and there was nothing else to do I returned to my apartment.

She left just as she had come.... in an instant and without a trace. I had hoped to regain some control of the conversation, and redirect it back to her, but being a horrible conversationalist and shy for that matter, I had not succeeded before she dematerialized. I had already decided to ask her out, but in an attempt to not scare her off with my haste, I decided to wait and do it in two days.

Wednesday evening I had decided to retire early and so I was already dressed in my Pjs when there was a knock at the door. My room mate answered the door. I heard a voice asking for me by name. I was bewildered since I hadn't met that many people yet. I came to the door and invited him in. I recognized him, it was the red-head I had talked to on Monday night but I didn't remember his name.

So there I was with my neck sticking my neck way out, standing on her doorstep (yes, I had managed to get her to say where she lived before she disappeared). Since I had already knocked, I ignored the impulse to run for cover once I realized what I was doing. A girl came to the door and I heard myself say, "Hi, is Jessica home?". I saw Jess poke her head around the corner, with a look of shear bewilderment that seemed say, "Who knows my name? I don't know anyone here!". Realizing that she didn't remember my name, I suavely introduced myself to her roommate, to save us the awkwardness of reintroductions. Well, maybe it wasn't all that suave, but it worked. I had totaled my car the week before taking my sister to the airport, so I was limited to a date place within walking distance. I asked her if she wanted to go get a milkshake and luckily (for my heart's sake,) she said yes. This was already going better than I had expected.

I quickly changed into a pair of jeans and was ready to go (lucky for me I hadn't washed off my make-up yet!) We walked down the block to the Malt Shoppe and ordered our shakes then talked as we drank them. He seemed really nice. I had fun.

Her voice was a little lower and richer than the typical Utah girls I was accustomed to hearing at the time and she talked enthusiastically of her many brothers and sisters. She was very cute and I was able to gradually loosen up and feel comfortable around her. Which was a huge deal for me. Over all the date seemed a success, but I had a rule of thumb that said there would be no second date unless she made it clear in some way that she wanted there to be one. I pointed out my apartment as I walked her home afterwards and told her to feel free to stop by anytime, seeing as our apartments had only one building between them.

A couple days later one of my room mates invited me to go to a baseball game with her and a friend. I was in the middle of a project so I politely declined. She suggested that I could invite someone if I wanted to show up later. I thought I might invite Nathan to go with me. So I casually walked past his apartment and tried to convince myself to go and knock on his door. I walked up the steps and almost changed my mind and turned around, but then I noticed his door was open. I saw him sitting on his couch with his laptop open. Some how that was easier for me, so I went up and said hello. He invited me in and I sat beside him. He showed me what he was working on (it was an angel graphic for a book.) After talking for a while, I lost interest in going to the game so I barely even mentioned it to Nathan. He wasn't to keen on going anyway. So he asked me if I had eaten yet, I hadn't. He suggested we go to Cafe Rio for dinner (it's now our favorite place to eat.) It was then I found out that he no longer had a car. So we took mine (or I should say the one my parents were letting me use for the summer.) After we stuffed ourselves we went to a movie. I enjoyed spending time with him, he was very comfortable to be around.

Well, randomly waltzing in my open door was more than enough to satisfy my rule of thumb. So I gave it my all from there on out and I'm glad I did. On Sunday I sat next to Jess during sacrament meeting and Sunday school. Later I found out that people assumed we were already engaged because of that. Well they weren't too far off, but we'll get there.

The following Monday when I was doing my laundry, a guy from the ward invited me up to watch some episodes of... some TV show that I wasn't familiar with- with a bunch of other guys while I waited for my laundry. I was trying to be friendly and get to know people in the ward so I accepted. I confess it was also fun having a room full of guys all to myself ;) so I sat myself down on a bean bag next to one of the guys to watch the show. After half a episode Nathan knocked on the door. All of the sudden I felt a little guilty, but I told myself I didn't have a good reason to feel guilty, after all, I was just being sociable. Nathan was inviting everyone to the F.H.E. activity, the singles were going to go see M.I. 3 at the theater. But everyone else in the room was going to a birthday dinner. But I said I wanted to go and hopped up and followed Nathan out the door.

This entire F.H.E. activity was conjured up by my roommates and I as an excuse for me to go out with Jess again. I had already knocked on her door and found the place disappointingly empty, so I was both confused and relieved to find her in an apartment full of boys. When she gave up her harem of men and got up to come with me, I must say, it gave the old ego a trip. ;D
And yes I made sure to pay for her ticket, to stake my claim.

To be continued...


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