Once upon a time...part 5

("How many more chapters to this story?!" you may be asking. I'm winding down...don't worry. June 8th is our day. I'm trying to concentrate on this right now, but I'm listening to Norah Jones and my eyelids are feeling very heavy. Bear with me).

Here we go...

He was better than I had remembered, way better actually. He was engaging and conversational. We had a three-some going, since my mom was with us. She kept the dialogue going (which is perfectly normal and expected, if you know my mom well). I was relieved, but was hoping that he didn't think that I was a mute. It seemed that all I was doing was smiling and nodding. It makes me laugh out loud when I think about it now. Anyways, I remember the day suddenly turning overcast and snowy. We decided to go to the movie Legacy (which I blubbered my way through) and get a bite to eat at the Garden Room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I remember looking out the window, gray skies, snow coming down and seeing the Salt Lake Temple. I felt happy and comfortable...in a powerful way.

Afterwards, we drove down to Provo. My mom suggested that Adam and I drive together (nice one Mom). Our conversation was seamless. Adam has a calming effect (he laughs that he just puts people to sleep). He is confident, but not overbearing. One thing I loved immediately about him, which is quite unusual really, are his listening skills (and they are skills). He seemed perfectly content on asking all sorts of questions and really being interested in my responses. He never really talked about himself at all, until I would ask him a question. He's amazing that way (I'm reading this over...and I am such a female. such a chatty cathy). When we arrived at Helaman Halls, he carried all my heavy book-filled boxes up three flights of stairs. My mom still talks about how he never stayed in my room to talk. He just met us downstairs afterward...a gentleman.

The next day, he worked and I unpacked. He met me and my mom in the Visitor's Center in Salt Lake that evening. After we ate in the food court at Crossroads Mall (with two of my mom's friends. They were giving me winks and thumbs up throughout dinner. funny), we took my mom to the airport. She cried and later said that she knew that he was the one. Before going back to Provo, he took me up to Ensign Peak, to see the view. We talked and laughed and made snow angels under the stars.

When I awoke for my first day of class, he had dropped off a note and cinnamon roll outside my door to wish me good luck (well, he got a girl to drop it off, since boys weren't allowed in the dorms, of course. That entire semester, my friends would tease him that a senior would have to "call up" his date from the lobby. he was a good sport). We agreed to meet at the step-down lounge that evening after class. Since I knew that this thing with Adam could possibly go somewhere I wanted, I called my 'friend' in Houston, to tell him. We cried, but I knew he would be okay and find his 'right one' (and he did).

Looking back, I can't believe it, but we talked about marriage that night! It's been three days people! Talk about humble pie! I had to take back everything I ever said about going to BYU and getting married...served me right.

I have a million memories of that first semester together. He left me love notes everywhere...at work, in my classes, in the dorms. We were both so poor, but we didn't care. Sharing a taco from Taco Bell made me happy and eating microwaved baked potatoes weren't so bad either (as long as they were smothered in BBQ sauce). If we weren't in class, studying, or at work, we would be together. I loved every minute of it.

After a summer apart (except for the family vacation in Texas he came on and broke his nose while diving at a lake), we would be separated again for the school year. He attended the University of Minnesota for graduate school and I stayed at BYU. Adam was so worried about this long distance relationship. "They never work." "We'll see," I responded...

stay tuned...