Tomorrow is Dave's and my 2nd anniversary. I can't believe it's been 2 years. It's odd to think that most of my time in Texas has been as a wife! I'm going to take my old roommate's idea and use this as a chance to journal for myself about Dave's and my courtship and marriage.Those that know me well know that when I felt impressed to take the job in Texas I wasn't thrilled about the prospect and I really hoped that moving down here meant I might find someone meant for me. My first year was awful. I hated my job. I didn't date anyone that was worthwhile as far as finding anything lasting. I really thought I wanted to leave but couldn't hardly form the thought because I remembered the clear impression to move here. I enjoyed my time playing ultimate frisbee with the singles ward and actually met Dave when playing ultimate shortly after I moved to Texas but he was dating someone else at the time so I forgot all about him.
I quit my first teaching job at the end of the year because I knew that if I was to be a teacher that I could not be a good one at that school. I applied for jobs in other districts and toyed with the idea of trying something else. I interviewed for two jobs in Spring ISD and really liked what I saw at Bammel MS. They offered me a job at my first interview and after thinking about it for a day I accepted. I spent the summer, between my first and second year teaching, traveling and enjoying the fact that I finally had the money to do those things. I didn't know it then but I had already caught Dave's eye but he hadn't worked up the guts to say anything and I was also gone very often.
Shortly after the new school year started a friend of mine walked up to me at church and asked what my last name was. I found that odd so I asked her later why she asked. I'll never forget the response "because there's this really hot guy that wants to ask you out." I didn't believe her but when she told me who it was I remembered him vaguely and agreed that yes he was hot.
The next week I saw him talking to a friend of mine and thought I would go say hi to my friend and give Dave the opportunity to talk to me. He took it and we talked for a while and realized we both had MySpace pages. That night I went home and looked him up to see what more I could find out about him. He looked me up to and sent me a message later that night. He called me the next day and after a long conversation (very out of character for Dave) he asked me out on TWO dates! Our first date was September 10th and we went to a mexican restaurant (well Tex Mex actually seeing as we live in Texas) and as we were leaving he said, "I don't have to take you home yet do I?." I didn't want to go home either so we went and got a malt and talked. It was really nice. We started to email and talk and see each other just about every day. I think we counted once and we've only been apart for 2 days since our first date.
Things progressed pretty fast. We knew we loved each other by General Conference weekend. We mentioned marriage but didn't want to rush things so we kind of ignored it as long as we could. I don't remember the day we decided to get married but we thought we'd get engaged before Christmas and married the following March. Little did I know I was about to have a break down.
I started to have serious doubts and fears. I was hurting all of the time and didn't know what to do. Most of my friends know about my parents' painful divorce and the affect it had on me. Dave and I decided to spend a few days apart on Oct 30th. By the next morning I was beside myself in pain and emotional turmoil. I didn't know what the Lord wanted me to do. I tried to go to work but had to leave because I was crying all the time. I called my bishop and met him at his office late that morning. He counseled with me and I realized that the Lord doesn't talk to us through pain. I realized that Dave was a good man and could make me very happy and we could be a great good in the world and that Satan really didn't want that. I decided at that moment that I would marry Dave but we needed to get engaged NOW. I called him on my way out and asked him to marry me. His response was cute. It was something like "Are you serious?" or "Are you sure?" I don't remember. We made plans to meet in The Woodlands at The Cheesecake Factory after he got done with work. He later called me and said that his dad thought it might be a good idea to get married sooner . . . say Christmas. A long engagement probably wouldn't be good for me considering my issues and I agreed.
That night when I met Dave he told me he forgot his wallet in the car. When we went to it he opened the trunk to balloons and a picture of his YMCA kids holding up the letters to "Will you marry me?" (the pic is in our slide show) and a teddy bear with a ring tied to its finger. He said something sappy I'm sure but I don't remember. It just felt so good to know for sure that he was the one for me.
And he is. We had a beautiful Wedding with almost all of our immediate families there. It was kind of hard to pull it together in 7 weeks but I'm glad we did. We've never looked back. I am still teaching 6th grade and love it most of the time. It's been a little struggle for us putting Dave through school but he will graduate next Christmas and we are looking forward to being able to expand our family sometime soon. We are so grateful for the love we share and the blessings we have. When my bishop counseled me that day he told me that being married isn't easy but that sharing it with someone you love it makes the hardships half as hard and the joys twice as joyful, he was right. I love you David.
On Friday we went and worked off some of our food by playing volleyball. Dave's parents watched the kids so we were free to kick butt and we did . . . at first. Then we got tired and sucked. We had fun though and I was mostly glad to be active after all that sitting and eating. My stomach had been achy but volleyball did the trick. We went home on Saturday morning and we were so glad to have time to ourselves before heading back to the daily grind.