The beginning of the story

For this week's Spin Cycle: "I Love You" I had hoped to be able to post a bunch of cute baby pictures. Once again my plans were thwarted by Baby Stubborn. So instead of oohing and ahhing over the latest addition to our family (who has yet to be added) I will tell you the story of the beginning of our family. I'll try to keep it short, but I always end up putting in way too many details, turning this into a really long story. I just think it's a really good story.

When I was 24, I decided to take the money I had been saving from my job at the costume company and give my life a new direction. After discussing some ideas with a wise friend, I decided to leave Utah (where I had lived my whole life up to that point) and go to school somewhere else to get an art degree. After a little research (my standards included: not expensive, offers degree in art, will accept a student who has been out of school for six years) I picked a little private University just south of Omaha, Nebraska. It fit my criteria well, and it felt right.

Upon arriving in Bellevue, I found that rather than being a college town like I expected (most the people at the University were from Omaha) it was really a military town. It's the home of Offut Air Force Base/Strategic Air Command. The people at church were used to people moving in and out a lot and were very friendly, as well as very encouraging that I get involved in the singles group.

Through the singles activities, I became friends with a gal a couple years older than me, an Air Force pilot. She had bought herself a cute little house near the base and was going to be needing a new roommate soon - right around the end of the semester when my contract with student housing would be up.

She gave me an exceptionally good deal on the room, and that December I moved in. We had a great time, and that's where I ended up living for the rest of my time in Bellevue.

Summertime came and I went home for a month. When I came back, I heard rumors of a new guy at church - a Navy officer stationed at StratCom. My roommate had already been set up with him once or twice. (I love matchmaking in Mormon culture, btw. It goes something like this: They are both "older" and single. They are perfect for each other!)

He ended up taking my roommate out several times over the next couple of months. I ended up hanging out with him more and more, both because he was at our house a lot and because of our callings at church. I didn't have a car, and he became my ride to many places.

Have you ever had the "safe bet" friend? You know, someone from the opposite gender that you know you can just hang out and be yourself with because you know you're not interested in each other, usually because one or both of you is interested in someone else (or because your friend is gay, which was not the case here - obviously).

Enter: Operation Iraqi Freedom. My roommate suddenly deployed to the Middle East. The other roommate and I were left to take care of her house while she was away, and she asked several friends to check in on and take care of us and give me rides if I needed (she was a big sisterly kind of friend like that).

Can you see where this is headed? New guy and I hung out even more while she was away. I was taking photography that semester and needed a few rides into Omaha to pick up supplies at the photography store. I was also taking my first sculpture class that semester and needed ideas. I decided to ask my friend for help, because he was a hardware kind of guy, so I figured he might have some ideas about how to put things together. We ended up spending many hours browsing craft and hardware stores together looking for ideas. (Does that sound romantic to you? Maybe it's just me.) He even fixed my air compressor for me so that I could use my airbrush.

Around the time my roommate came back a couple months later, I was starting to realize I really kind of liked this guy. A lot. I thought he was still interested in my roommate, but I also knew she wasn't all that interested in him. I finally got up the nerve to talk to her about it, and she not only was okay with my liking him, she was actually very excited to help me pursue him.

I could give a detailed account of the next week, but I will just say it involved homemade cookies and Pride & Prejudice (the A&E version), and by the end of the week, we were "officially" dating.

After many more trips to our favorite craft and hardware stores, movies, dinners, and a Pinewood Derby, the following May we ended up both going back to Utah to where our parents were. He was finished with his military duty, and I was running out of money to pay for college. We got engaged in July (I think - could have been June) and married in December.

That was four and a half years ago, and life has been one big adventure (and a lot of time at Home Depot) since then. I couldn't be happier. I love you, firebirdluver.