Valentine’s Day

 I am thinking about My Dear Husband today.

Of course I am, right, because it’s Valentine’s Day.

When I told him that I needed something to write about for Valentine’s Day, he gave me my present one day early.  It is a book called, “All There Is.”  The following post is inspired by the book:

I met My Dear Husband at BYU, which is a total cliché for us Mormons, but oh well, that’s how it happened.  I was working as a janitor in the Administration Building and I told my friend Roseanne to stop hiring girls for our cleaning crew, because I needed someone to date.  When she told me she had interviewed a nice sounding guy on the phone, I was pretty embarrassed for opening my mouth, but I guess it worked out because she hired him for me.  (thanks Roseanne!)

The first time I saw him I thought,” darn, he looks too young for me!”  My Dear Husband is actually 3 years younger then me.  Younger even, than my little sis (who you haven’t heard much about ’cause she doesn’t do the blog with us.)  I remember he was wearing a blue shirt with a stripe and some weird-looking (or so I thought at the time) white tennis shoes.

So, why’d I change my mind about him?  Well, we were all having a meeting and I remember we were seated around a conference table and I was helping another guy with some homework.  All My Dear Husband did was lean across the table to point at something the other guy was writing and I couldn’t even breathe.

Needless to say I became interested.

Since I never dated or flirted or any of that behavior that’s supposed to come naturally to girls, but didn’t to me, I enlisted help from my friend Carrie.  She gave me a little list of things to do.  I don’t remember everything on her list anymore, but I remember the first one was ‘get him to talk about himself’ and the second was ‘get him laughing.’  (If anyone out there needs relationship advice, email me later and I’ll send you her info!  She’s actually a pretty great psychologist these days!)

Carrie’s advice worked.  He asked me out.  I was stunned.

Funnily enough, even though I never dated anyone (I was more of a hang out and be your best friend kinda’ gal) My Dear Husband had to ask me out three times before I had a free evening to actually go on a date with him.

It only took a few dates for us both to realize we were going to get married.  But we didn’t admit that feeling to each other right away.  In fact, My Dear Husband’s mom tried to talk him out of dating me.  She was worried about the “older unknown woman preying on her little son” and told him he should look around.  He explained this to me one night on the phone, but it only took one day of him looking around, before he called me back to say that he didn’t see anyone else he was interested in.  (phew!)

(don’t be mad at mom-in-law, she just hadn’t met me yet.)

Being My Dear Husband, when it came time to propose, first he had to trick me.  We went on a double date with our roommates to a very romantic spot.  The Salt Lake Temple.  He even got me alone and walked me to a little secluded bench, and sat me down, telling me he had something he needed to talk about.  Of course I was thinking he was going to ask me to marry him, how could I not?  But then he started asking for advice about how his roommate could get my roommate’s attention and I  realized I’d been set up.  Rat Fink!

He managed to trick me again on the night of the actual proposal.  We went to see the Nutcracker Ballet and afterward he told me sorry but he had to drop me off quick at my apartment and then go help his cousin Stephen with something.  Of course, this was a total lie.  We arrived at my apartment and I opened the door to see a cande lit table all set up.

I slammed the door.  I thought my roommate was trying to have a romantic evening with her boyfriend. heh heh heh.  oops.

The rest was history.  We went in, he asked me to marry him, we dropped our keys on the floor, I said I would marry him, he didn’t hear me, and he had to ask again.

(Smooth, like buttah, right?)

11 yrs + 5 girls = Happy Us  🙂

 “All There Is” is a collection of stories put together by Storycorps.   If you don’t know what Storycorps is, check them out:  http://storycorps.org/

They are folklorists of sorts, making sure that the stories of regular people, that history often forgets, are recorded.

The stories are romantic- not sappy- and very real and touching. Here’s a quote from the back of the book.  An 85-year old man named Leroy, remembering his wife:

“It lasted fifty three years, two months, and five days. . . She was something.  One thing:  If they ever let me in those pearly gates, I’m going to walk all over God’s heaven until I find that girl.  And the first thing I’m going to do is ask her if she would marry me, and do it all over again.”

Romantic, right?  (sigh)

Happy Valentine’s Day!