Our Story

I was almost 27 when I finally found a man that would not only date me but agreed to marry me. Which I realize by normal American standards is not old but I lived in Utah. And, even in the ultra-liberal (ha ha) city of Salt Lake, any unmarried woman over the age of 23 is considered an old maid. Add to that the fact that I had served a mission and therefore bore the unsavory classification of "returned sister missionary" and I was pretty much out of luck.

I dated, very briefly, two different guys from my mission, one guy who knew way too little about football and went on one really bad date with a guy who had a really big head (literally, like the thought now of bearing his children makes me cringe. We nicknamed him Head, pronounced with an Irish accent like Mike Meyers' in So I Married an Ax Murderer.) Other than that I went on very few dates and had even fewer actual relationships.

At 26 I was seriously considering going to law school. I had decided that my life was pretty good. I had great friends. I loved being a legal assistant and my boss had told me if I went to law school he would let me kind of "take over" his practice (at that point I was basically running his practice anyway) so why not make some real money and secure my own future. Especially since it appeared that I would be single forever.

So you can guess what comes next... then I met Seth! Ahhh, so sweet. Not really. Seth was nothing like any of the guys I had dated. (My best friend later pointed out that that was probably a good thing since none of the other guys I had dated had worked out all that well, maybe it was time to try a different kind of guy.) But Seth was young. Over three years younger. The first time we met I told his best friend that he had "nice soccer legs." I'm sure they both thought it was some kind of "line." But really I just appreciate sports and could tell he must be a soccer player with legs like those. I guess I missed the fact that Seth had some nice marathoner legs... or maybe I didn't appreciate marathoning at the time. Along with his age I soon found out that Seth was not only just getting out of a long term relationship but he also had a thing for 18 yr olds (must be a Utah thing.)

So we became good friends. We hung out a lot. Watched sports together. Sat next to each other in church and talked about scriptures and doctrine. We went to football games with our group of friends where he would slyly move away from the young 18 yr old he had invited and stand next to me because her lack of sports knowledge was more annoying than cute. He would ask me about all the new girls in the ward and I would warn him that they weren't quite yet legal so he should wait a few more weeks until they actually graduated from high school. We had a blast together. But we were just friends. He had sworn off sister missionaries and I was determined that if and when I met the right guy he would be graduated and fully ready to support me (financially.) None of this putting my husband through college crap.

Then something happened. It was really all a big misunderstanding. See he put his arm around me at a fireside and then his hand kind of touched mine and I thought "oh, hmmm, he wants to hold my hand. That's weird. But cool." So I let him. His story is I grabbed his hand and he almost had a heart attack. Apparently in the "world of men" holding hands is way more serious than putting your arm around somebody. In fact, you could even kiss a girl and it's possible that it doesn't signify the seriousness that hand holding does. I still think that's the silliest thing I've ever heard but it has been confirmed by other men, so whatever.

After that there was a first date. And then a first kiss (while watching General Conference of all things!) Followed by a very short courtship that almost ended when Seth decided that we should either decide that we were supposed to get married or break up. He had a harder time getting his answer than I did. But then again I was more mature and "in-tune". (Not true. I think I was just more ready to hear the answer, after all I was very nearly an old maid.)

So my thoughts of becoming an attorney were quickly put aside and we started planning a wedding.

Our 8 year anniversary was last week and I've been keenly aware the last few weeks and months that I have so much more than I ever thought I would. I had no idea what an amazing man I was getting. I knew I loved him. I knew we had a lot in common and that we had a lot of fun together. I knew I was definitely marrying "above myself" but I had no idea how much more was in store.

He is my everything, my best friend. I love him more than I ever imagined possible. I could go on and on but I don't want to gag when I proof read this. So that's my version of "Our Story... Thus Far."