Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Valentine's Day!

I remember when I was younger (and single) absolutely hating Valentine's Day. I know it's not just about love between couples, but the holiday always emphasized my lack of boyfriend at the time. My friends and I used to call it Singles Awareness Day.

I'm so glad that I have someone to share it with now. In the spirit of the holiday, I'm now going to gush about Brett. Feel free to skip this part if that annoys you. :D

I love Brett. I remember when we first met at a singles' activity at church. I saw him across the room and thought to myself, "Wow, that guy's pretty hot!" At the time I only knew one or two people in the singles ward (congregation), and so I was a bit on the reserved side. (I know, hard for anyone who knows me to imagine. But when I'm in a large group of people I don't know, I tend to be rather withdrawn. I get really nervous.) He came over by me, and after a minute or two asked me why I wasn't talking to him. I told him I wasn't really a very good conversationalist, especially when I try to initiate conversations....and then we proceeded to talk for over half an hour.

As we both got to know more people in the ward, we started hanging out with the same group of people. This is when we really started to get to know each other. I loved his sense of humor. I know some people have a hard time adjusting to it at first, but I have always thought he's hilarious. He makes me laugh so much! He was so intelligent. He's well read, which honestly I wasn't expecting because he seemed so into sports and outdoors-y stuff. But he loves to read and has read many classics. He enjoys talking about literature, philosophy, ethics....you name it, Brett can carry on a thoughtful and insightful conversation.

It was so easy for us to become best friends, and we did rather quickly. We recognized how much we loved to spend time together. He was just so much fun! Naturally, this is when most people feel we started dating, but we didn't admit it for another couple of months. :) We spent as much time as possible together. I would drive up to the bank he worked at (an almost 45-minute drive one way), have lunch with him during his hour break, and then drive home. Occasionally he would drive down to the hospital I worked at (like, an hour drive for him), hang out with me during my half-hour break, and then drive home. Talk about dedication!

In January of 2007, we (finally!) kissed and admitted we were dating. But, we clearly stated, we were only dating for fun. We were NOT dating with the intention of getting married. Yeah....that worked. Two days after Valentine's day that year, we exchanged the "L" word. (Brett, knowing how much I hate cliches and that if he said it on V-day that I would wonder if it were real or if he were just saying it because of the day, waited so that I would know he was serious.) A week or two after that, we started talking about the possibility of getting married. It just....seemed right. I couldn't think of any way that I could possibly find someone who was a better match for me.

On April 4th, Brett proposed to me. I was so giddy! We went out to dinner that night, and later went to the fountain at Art Hill in Forest Park. (Although I hadn't told him, that was exactly where I had always wanted to be proposed to. I just thought it was such a romantic spot!) It was SO COLD that night, especially since I was wearing a skirt. The poor man let me wear his dress coat OVER my coat, so he was really freezing! He took me down by the fountain with a couple of glasses and a bottle of Martinelli's (apple cider), then proceeded to practically give me a heart attack by telling me what a great girlfriend I'd been, how much fun he'd had with me...cue panic on my part! I seriously started to wonder if it was some twisted way of breaking up with me. And then he went down on one knee.

Obviously I said yes. :D

We were married July 21st, 2007. These past four years have been some of the happiest of my life! Brett is such a wonderful man. He is a great husband, and a fantastic father. He's not perfect, but in my opinion he's pretty darn close! I love him so much, and I am so blessed to be with him not just for this life, but for eternity.

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