The Girl

As my gaze skipped over everyone, it settled on this one guy who was standing talking to a group of people. I don't know what it was about him aside from that he was obviously good-looking that grabbed me, but something sure did. I will even swear today that there was a ray of light streaming in from an overhead window that illuminated him. A sign from God? Could have been!
I nudged my dad, pointed out THE guy and said, I want to meet that guy. My dad grunted a response and carried on with his work phone call. In my head, I prayed, Ok, God, if you want me to meet that guy, then you bring him to me. I don't want to have initiated it if this does turn into something.

Hours later, this guy passed me as I was leaning against a wall waiting for my dad to get off the phone. I smiled. He smiled back. My heart jumped a little!

Around 3:00 that afternoon as the orientation events wrapped up, I was yet again waiting for my dad to get off the phone and to ease my boredom, I wandered outside to sit on this fountain outside the Student Union. (This fountain no longer exists!) I closed my eyes, tilted my head up to soak up the sunshine and next thing I know, I open them to find THE guy standing within 2 feet of me. He looked sort of sheepish but determined at the same time. Turns out he'd been pacing inside the SU working up the courage to come introduce himself to me. We started talking and within minutes it was obvious there was a serious connection between the two of us. I will venture so far as to say that I knew right then that this guy would be in my life for a long time. I hesitate to say I knew I'd marry him, but it was something very close to that.

Before the weekend was over, we'd spent every available second trying to get to know each other. He took me to lunch with a friend of his. He even took me back to his house to meet some of his family...in hindsight, it seems absurd that all that happened in that first weekend, but again, whatever connection there was between us, it was powerful and undeniable to both of us.

After exchanging addresses (this was pretty much pre-email or in fledgling AOL period), I went back home to will the next month of summer to fly by so I could get back up there for school and KYLE!

Before I knew it, I was there and immediately whisked into this huge group of friends that came with Kyle (from his high school days) and aside from attending school, all of us threw ourselves into being freshman the way only 18 year old kids can. No, we did not drink or party. We were actually really good kids! We went cliff-diving, had all night movie nights, late nights at the local coffee shops and just generally relished our new-found independence. I can't imaging how I even survived on as little sleep as I was getting those days.

All the while, Kyle and I stuck close, not dating really, but clearly marked for each other. We became really really good friends while also falling completely head over heels in love with each other. By the time I brought him home to meet my family that fall, there was no doubt in my mind that I could see us getting married. The problem was...we were freshman! There was no way I was sabotaging my college years by getting married! Not to mention that neither of us had any intention of falling in love so quickly upon going to college! That was not the plan at all! And yet, here we were.

Needless to say, the next several years had some drama built in, lots of pent-up frustration due to our incredibly strong feelings for each other and yet...it wasn't the right time. We dated, broke up, dated and broke up. But neither of us could really venture out too far from each other. We were inexplicably bound together and undeniably soul-mates. My junior year, Kyle transferred to another school a few hours away - he needed to get some distance between himself and his home town.
This was a good thing, although it was also terrifying. I know his parents were hoping he'd meet and fall in love with a girl from this school, but nope. He and I kept things going long-distance while I plowed my way through nursing school and focused on my clinicals, good grades and my wonderful girlfriends up there. By the time I graduated from UofA in 1999, it was as good as done. There was no doubt in our minds that we would get married. It just couldn't happen any other way. At the time I would say we could not have been more in love, but now, I would say I was wrong!

Kyle graduated in spring of 2000 and on October 21, 2000, we were married. Such begins the saga of our relationship. And what a sweet journey it has been. Not without some trials and tribulations along the way, but those are FAR diminished by the overwhelming delights we've had being married. He is still, more than ever, the love of my life, the love of my soul and heart. We now have two beautiful, delightful children with another growing inside me. We have clung together through everything and even more tightly, clung to our Lord. I seriously could not begin to quantify the blessings God has heaped on us and it humbles me to no end. I have seen so many marriages around me wither and die, and I feel so humbled to have this incredible, incredible man who gets me on every single level, who challenges me and thrills me, who makes me laugh almost constantly. I look forward to each new day we share together, no matter what it brings. I love you, Kyle. More today than any day previous. You have been worth everything and then some.