The story of us... (his side of things)

If Michelle is going to tell her side of the story, I figured I should tell my side of the story, because it is completely different. Okay, it isn't that much different, but there are a few details that she didn't cover. So  here is the story of us from Jim's perspective.

On the afternoon of December 27, 2010 I was in the passenger seat of my dad's truck. We had just picked up Ellie and were on our way back to Orem. I had been back in Orem for a couple months, and had recently rejoined LDSsingles.com so I could meet some new people. I knew was going to be there for several more months or even a few years. The amount of time I was going to be here was dependent on what PhD program accepted me. I had applied to Alabama, BYU, Texas and Oregon (Alabama and Oregon said yes, and we are off to Oregon in case you didn't know). Anyway... while we were driving home, I decided to send a few flirts out. One of the women I sent a flirt to was Michelle. I had come across her profile several days before, but didn't feel the urge to send her a flirt until that Monday afternoon. Fast forward to that evening...

That evening while I was running I got an e-mail from Michelle. She introduced herself, and I responded and formally introduced myself. We e-mailed a couple of times that evening. The next day I went to Idaho with my parents to visit my grandparents. We e-mailed several times throughout the day, and then several more times on Wednesday and Thursday. I actually had a date set-up on Thursday night, but truth be told I was more excited to meet Michelle than I was to go on my date. Fittingly my date ended up being a comedy of errors and I ended up getting home a lot earlier than expected. So what happened? Michelle ended up chatting until about 3:00 in the morning and we decided to go to Starbucks sometime the next day.

I was quite anxious the following morning. When I finally arranged for my dad to watch Ellie for an hour. I got in the car and was a bit frustrated when there was construction on Center Street. The last thing I wanted to do was be late. So I texted Michelle and told her I was going to be late, but not to worry that I thought I was a pretty nice guy.

The actual date at Starbucks is a little bit of a blur. I remember being a little anxious about the first 30 seconds of the meeting. Do I hug her? Do I shake her hand, or do I do something completely different?    Honestly, I don't remember what happened, but I don't think we hugged or shook hands. We just introduced ourselves and ordered up some hot chocolate.

While we were talking I remember being sucked in by her eyes. The only person I can think of whose eyes are as blue, are my Ellie-girl. We talked, and talked and talked. Then I looked at my phone and saw that we had been there for over an hour. I was not happy about this. So I called my Dad and he was able to watch Ellie for longer. So we stayed for quite awhile longer. Finally, I had to go because my family was having a get-together that night for New Years Eve.

As Michelle said, I spent most of the evening at the "girls table," including a girl that my cousin set me up with, and whom I went out on a date the following week. However, it was pretty clear that my thoughts were directed towards Michelle as we texted most of the night.

Fast forward to the following Friday. Our first real date was at her house, where I made dinner and Michelle made dessert. It was awesome. While getting to know each other via e-mail, we had said that our ideal first date would be to cook dinner with someone, and not necessarily for someone. So we spent the evening together in the kitchen, which is a very common occurrence for us, before spending another 3-4 hours talking of the couch.

We spent the next several evenings together at Michelle's house, and then we were both comfortable enough with our relationship to allow the other to meet our daughter. One thing led to another, and on March 18 we were engaged, and now in just under 4 days we are going to be married for eternity at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. I can't believe the journey I have been over the past couple of years, but I can say definitely I am crazy happy and I wouldn't change a thing!