Being in the same ward, Ryan and some friends decided to visit the ward girls in David John Hall during visiting hours. Ryan stopped by my room and we chatted for a while. He noticed what he called my "shrine" to my boyfriend (which was really just a few snapshots) and kind of took a few steps back. Soon enough he got up the courage to ask me out.
He called late one Friday night after getting home late from studying and asked if I had eaten dinner yet. I had already eaten so he asked me if I would come with him to Hogi Yogi for ice cream while he ate. We had such a great time talking that he asked if I wanted to go bowling next. We had a fun night and walked back to the dorms. I was so impressed with how kind and gentlemanly he was and that he really was so interested in everything I thought and said. That got my interest going. He looked older so I thought he might be a return missionary. There was no way I was going to write to a missionary...
After a few more dates and a lot of careful orchestration, Ryan asked if I would go out with him on Valentines Day. I had just learned that my boyfriend at home was going to come visit for the weekend, but would be flying in late Valentines night. I told Ryan that I could go out with him as long as I was home by the time my boyfriend's flight got in! That's when Ryan kindly said "Well, if I am going to take you out on Valentines Day, I was kind of hoping that you would be my valentine. Think about it and let me know if you want to go." I felt so stuck. It was nice to have a good guy friend at school. So I thought about it a lot and when Ryan called to follow up, I told him that I would love to go out with him on Valentines Day.
We were exclusive for about a month when Ryan received a mission call to serve in the Chile, Santiago South mission. We were so excited about the call. Secretly I had hoped he might get called to a mission in Washington, but that wasn't the case. We made good use of our time together before Ryan flew off to Chile in June of 1997.
I wrote to my missionary as much as possible. He wrote weekly. Neither of us were hoping for a situation like this, but I wanted to see what might happen with this guy someday.
About six months before Ryan came home from his mission I started dating a guy in my student ward. Ryan and I had decided that waiting around for two years for a relationship that might not even work when he returned was silly. After two weeks I realized the relationship with this other boy wasn't something that I was ready to persue and wrote to fill Ryan in. It was something awkward like "Hi, I'm sorry I haven't written for a while. I think your letters have been stuck in the pouch (they were) because I haven't heard from you for about two months and during that time I dated someone from my ward. That relationship is over now. So, how are you doing? I miss you."
Ryan came home from his mission the end of May 1999. I drove 11 hours to see him for the first time in two years. It was such a happy reunion. I remember driving into his hometown at 1 am and getting about two blocks from his home when I noticed this crazy driver off to the right. The driver parked his truck right in front of me when I was stopped at a stop sign and I saw Ryan climb out. I threw open the door and ran as fast as I could. I couldn't squeeze him any harder. (I'd like to say it was one of those magical hugs that you swing around in a slow-motion circle, but I don't think it was. It was perfectly us just standing still.) It was so great to have him back. We had a great weekend visit and then I headed back to school.
Ryan began school again in the fall and started to get scared that I had dated someone else during his mission. He claims that he was ready to marry me when he got home and then he found out more about the relationship I had and was nervous that he was acting too quickly. He started to date other women at school and I became a wreck. It was so hard to give him the space he needed when I was so glad to have him home again. After six months of hoping that we would get back together again, I decided to try and move on. He needed space and I needed to focus on something else for the sake of my sanity. It wasn't long after I decided to leave him alone, that Ryan started coming around again. Oh, what a relief. After three years of knowing him I was more than ready to get married. Three years is a record breaking dating term at BYU. We kept dating and dating and dating and dating. Then we started talking about marriage and after another 7 months, he FINALLY proposed. (I had given him a time frame or I was going to break up with him and have fun my last semester at school. Turns out he already had purchased the ring and was going to propose on our anniversary, but had to speed up the timing before he lost his chance!) He took me up to the moutains in Provo and said the most significant words I could have ever heard in the four years we dated. "I'm ready to commit to you for eternity. Will you marry me?" This cute elderly couple cross- country skiing behind us snapped our picture as Ryan told them "we just got engaged!"
We were married in the Salt Lake Temple May 1, 2001. Talk about a happy day. It had finally come.
This melted my heart! I loved reading this. You little lovebirds.
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