How Ben and I met, as well as the story of our first date can be found in this post from 2010. It's a toned down version since, until years later, I never actually knew how weird Ben thought I was after our first date. To put it simply, Ben never really planned on asking me out a second time.
Our first date. In my defense, I wanted to take pictures because on the mission,
you take pictures of everything! But yeah, I know, it's still weird.
Fast forward a month, sometime in November 2009. I have lost interest in Ben "whats-his-name" because he hasn't called. Ben has also lost interest in me, until one night he stumbles upon the pictures of our first date together. He thinks, "Maybe she's more normal with more adjustment time after her mission." So he calls to ask me to a play on Friday. As fate would have it, I have to work on Friday. Another near ending.
I think this is the point that our future children began to intervene. They were in heaven shouting things like, "C'mon Dad, she's not that weird!" or "Try to get work off on Friday Mom!" Needless to say, we needed some divine intervention.
And it was nothing short of divine intervention when Ben contacted me again about a week later. I received a text asking if I wanted to come eat crepes at his house on Sunday night. I was a little put off that he asked me out in a text, but since I wasn't planning on doing anything else that night, I decided to go. It turned out great. For the first time we actually hit it off. And he said that the thing that caught his eye the most was that I stayed late to help do the dishes.
But how could such a simple circumstance be called divine intervention? After we were married I kept calling the crepe night "our second date" until finally Ben confessed that it wasn't meant to be a date at all. He told me he had texted 10-15 people to come eat crepes that night and I was the only one who was able to come. He had even invited other girls! From the moment I got the text, I thought it was an exclusive invitation. If I had walked into the room to find other girls there, Ben would have been on my "do not call" list forever and for always.
So however it was that our kids blocked those texts / helped those people find other plans, I have them and heaven to thank. Because after that date, our relationship picked up speed.
Bowling at BYU. The first night Ben held my hand.
At a UVU basketball game, the night of our first kiss.
In fact, when I say our relationship picked up speed I'm not exaggerating. Roughly two
months later, we were engaged and five months later we were married. I knew I wanted to marry Ben long before he had his confirmation. And since I knew, I took action. Before Ben had even proposed, I had:- Said "I love you" to him before he said it to me
- Told him that he could propose and I would say "Yes" (I was never good at playing games)
- Picked out and purchased my wedding dress
- Found a wedding ring
- Called the temple to schedule our wedding day. I figured, "Hey, if we break up, I'll just cancel it!" In my defense, we had roughly discussed dates and I didn't want the good times of day to be taken. However, I don't know if that excuse will save me on the Judgement Day when they question as to why I lied to the temple worker on the phone. When she asked "Does the groom know about this date?" I nearly died. She really asked that! Maybe because she could hear the lies about everything else in my voice- a false phone number, my parent's address as his; I even gave them the wrong middle name because I didn't know his yet! So when Ben's temple letter arrived at my parent's house, his middle name was spelled wrong (it's Arden... I told them Arwen. Pretty close guess though, right?). Don't worry, I later fessed up and now we have a very honest, open relationship (wink, wink). And yes, we still have that envelope and letter.
The night Ben proposed to me. He proposed at the MTC in the room we met in.
Now we're going on nearly three years and I can't get enough of him. He's wonderful. We never would have been matched up on eHarmony or any other dating website because we have so little in common. Yet, we're perfect for each other because we have everything that's important in common. Besides, it's our differences that make us interesting to each other and keep our marriage entertaining.
Ben, I love you more than I could ever show you. Thanks for giving the weird returned missionary another chance. I'll make you glad that you did for the rest of eternity.
