22 Years of Wedded Bliss, or something like that

On Friday, Blair and I will celebrate 22 years of marriage. On July 22, 1989, in the Denver Colorado Temple, Blair and I got hitched. I was 19, just turned in April, and Blair was 22. We honeymooned in a donated-for-the-purpose condo in Silverthorn, Colorado.

The proposal is seriously nothing to write home about. I actually thought he was kidding at first.

Our meeting was the kind of thing LDS church leaders and parents dream of. We met at a meeting on Jan 1, 1989 to plan a Young Single Adult Activity for the 18-25’s (more or less) in our area. I was at the meeting by default. Kim, who was supposed to attend, was sick, and the guy going with her to the meeting’s mom made him call me. My mom made me go. Once at the meeting, I recognized a few friends, but one person in particular caught my eye. A young man, with longish, curly-ish brown hair, intriguing blue eyes, and a very (I was impressed) nice moustache. He was tall and slender with broad shoulders, and had a beautiful smile that made it hard to think. He was wearing a grey suede jacket. He and the girl next to him were the area’s youth leaders, and both were encouraging me to come the planned activity, which was, of all things, Snowmobiling. Unlikely, I thought. So not my thing at all. I don’t like to be cold, or wet. I’m an indoor kind of girl and…although no one who knows me will believe this, I was ridiculously shy, awkward, and completely against situations involving talking, new people, and going places I hadn’t been a million times before.

This was all of those things. So, I immediately knew I would not be going. After the meeting, Blair and my friend approached me about the activity. I informed them I would not be going. They proceeded to try to talk me into it. I declined. Blair leaned in close, smiled, and said how much he would like it if I would come. Inside, I was ready to do whatever he suggested next…but my brain came to my rescue with the word ‘Snow’ and I again declined. The friend said she would give me a call and that she and Blair could give me a ride. Blair said he’d be happy to pick me up at 3pm on the day in question. I figured, when it came down to it, I just wouldn’t get in the car and the problem would be solved.

The day before the activity, I experience the onset of a monthly feminine occurence. Good, I thought, now I have a good excuse to stay home. My mother was packing my stuff for me and my friend had called to say that she was so excited I was coming. I tried to use the ‘monthly gift’ excuse but was shot down.

The next day, I found myself in the car with Blair and my friend. That was Jan 12th. On January 17th, we had our first date. On February 25, 1989, Blair sort of asked me to marry him, and on February 28th, on the way to a church basketball game, we bought the engagement ring.

We were married at 9am on the 22nd of July, with a luncheon that afternoon at the restaurant where we’d had our first date (where Blair also worked, incidently). The reception was in our church’s gym, at 7pm that night. The honeymoon was for 4 days. We came back, opened gifts, packed them into Blair’s Toyota Tercel hatchback along with our clothes and drove to Utah, where after a brief stay with his Aunt, we rented a tiny basement apartment in a then tiny town.

The day after our 2nd anniversary, I gave birth to our first son.

The rest as they say, is history. We had a baby about every 2 to 3 years til we hit 7, we moved several times and have been through a few jobs.

Can I just tell you how much I love this man? How attractive I still think he is? How he makes my life possible?

He totally rocks, after 22 years. Happy Anniversary, my darling:)