My Side of the Story

I realize the title sounds like my story will be way different. I’m not sure that it is. I guess I’ll start my story in the last month of my mission. I had pretty much planned at that point on living in St. George with some mission buddies when I got back from my mission. One morning while I was brushing my teeth, I got a distinct impression that I needed to go to Provo. I wasn’t sure why, but decided that was what I would do. When I got home, my Mom made all the arrangements for me to go to Utah. I realize now that she probably would have liked to have me at home for a little while after my 2 year absence, but just like always, she sacrificed her own wants for mine.

When we got down here, my sister Michelle and her husband Peter were amazing in their abilities to direct me to where I needed to go. After checking some stuff out on campus, Peter told me about the housing counseling department. I went in and talked to a counselor who looked over some options with me. I had already picked a couple of places I wanted to look at, but he kept insisting that I check out a place called Roman Gardens. So, I followed up and felt like it was the place I needed to be.

Pretty much immediately, I began to peruse the ward menu (or ward directory as some call it). I saw a beautiful girl named Lisa Randolph. There was only one problem; she was from Salem. That’s right, it only said Salem. No state listed. I immediately thought she was from Salem, Utah. Before I go any further, let me state that I have visited Salem Utah since, and even caught a catfish there, and really like the place. But at the time, I did not want to marry a girl from Utah. Lisa will argue that the ward directory said Salem, Oregon, but I guess we will have to wait for the millennium to resolve that argument. Anyway, because of that, I laid off for a little while. A couple weeks later, I went to a ward dance and saw her there. She was clearly having a girl’s night out with her friends and seemed unapproachable. The next day in Sunday school, Lisa walked in about half way through the lesson. She was gorgeous, but I still felt intimidated. Then she shared an experience about following the Spirit. That was it. I was determined to ask her out after that.

After another week or so, I figured it was time to act. I found out from the Elder’s quorum president that she was single (while we were all outside staring at her apartment…I’m glad she didn’t see that). One of my mission buddies was also with us and told me he knew everyone in her apartment and suggested that we go over so he could introduce me. I readily agreed. When we got there, he walked in and said “Hey everyone, my name is Vince and this is Matt”. So much for knowing everyone! Oh well, his lie gave me the courage to go with him. Lisa was there with her roommates, who were all engaged. We started talking and this guy came in and threw snow at Lisa and ran out. I lost hope. I immediately began to think that the comment about her being single was a lie too. I kept my cool and continued talking and found out that he was just a retard and I had no reason to worry. After a while of talking, my friend Vince threw out another sweet line; “Well, we better go and make the rounds”. It sounded cool, so I agreed. The rounds involved me and him leaving the apartment, saying “see ya dude”, and going to our own apartments.

That Friday night, one of my other mission buddies came up from St. George to hang out. I was bragging to him about how fearless I was when it came to asking girls out. He had just gotten home, and hadn’t been on a date yet. When I saw the admiration in his eyes as I talked about the dates I’d been on, I felt I couldn’t let him down by not calling Lisa right then and asking her out for the next night. I really did want to ask her out on my own, but likely lacked the courage to do so without having someone there I needed to impress. Mission buddies are great for stuff like that. Anyway, I hadn’t planned anything for our date and as the time to pick her up grew closer, I began to panic. Luckily, another guy in the complex was going on a date and said we could double. I can’t complain about the awkwardness of the date because he really saved my butt. I remember feeling like I was 2 years old talking to Lisa. She seemed so much more mature than me, and for some reason, I thought she was older than me. That’s probably the only time in Lisa’s life that someone has thought that. The date started by me sitting across from Lisa, trying to eat a HUGE sandwich. It was awkward to say the least. I didn’t have anything to talk about, so that added to everything. I was failing. Then, we watched the infamous Strictly Ballroom. Weird flick even for people who haven’t just returned from a mission. After a sweet game of Compatibility, I decided that it was time to say “Thanks for planning this date, but now it’s time to take matters into my own hands”. I made up some lame excuse for Lisa and I to go downstairs and play piano. As we sat there and talked, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was, and I was amazed at all the insightful things she had to say. I wrote in my journal that it was like talking to some of my closest mission companions. Lisa thinks that’s a little weird, but it is seriously one of the best compliments I could have paid her. I walked her back to her apartment and told her how much I enjoyed talking to her. Then, the hug. There are many types of hugs: the side-ways hug, the friendship hug, the “come here dude” hug which starts with a hand shake and ends in a one-armed, pat on the back. This was like no other hug. It felt perfect in every way. Then she lingered. I was hooked!

As I walked into my apartment, I received a very clear answer to my prayers that I had found my wife. Even though I had been seeking this answer, it still scared the crap out of me. I sat on my bed for about two hours trying to calm down so I could go to sleep. From that day until Lisa went home for the summer, we spent every day together. Because I knew from the first date that we were going to get married, it made it really easy to just enjoy that part of our dating. I am so much more grateful even today than I was then that I was able to find Lisa, and more importantly, that she decided she wanted to marry me too!

**I want to invite everyone (especially those with blogs) to rekindle the flame, or throw some gasoline on an already sweet fire, by writing your own stories and sharing them.