My Valentine

Last week, we had the spouse of Jeff's friend April stay with us. His name is Scott and one night we asked for a recounting of their love story and we had to laugh when we found out it was so similiar to ours. Jeff and Scott are kindred spirits in that they both had a tough time making the big marriage decision. The difference is that April was much nicer than I was and put up with three years as opposed to my one. Anyway, all this dating talk got me to thinking about old times. So here is a little recounting of my love story with Jeff.

In the Fall of 1999, some guy friends in my singles ward invited me and some of my roommates to go to a sleezy dance club in Salt Lake called Area 51. I was in a slightly rebellious stage so I agreed to go. I met Jeff in the apartment of some friends on the way out and I remember he said he liked my shirt. My first impression was that he was really adorable in a friendish way. I can’t say that I thought that I had met the man I was going to marry but I was fond at first sight. As a side note it took me a good three days and multiple shampoo sessions to get the smoke smell out of my hair from that dance club night.

In the months that followed I started dating a guy named Steve that lived downstairs from Jeff. Jeff would come over when I was at Steve’s apartment to help him with geology homework. Jeff was also taking all kinds of marketing classes and always needed help with a survey. We became fast friends. When things with Steve didn’t work out, we found more time to spend together.

We did all kinds of things as friends and always in a group. One night, a group of us took a raft out on to Utah Lake. The thing started floating out to sea and all we could do was laugh. We lit firecrackers, we took a trip to San Diego and Costa Rica, we went to Greek festivals, and the Olympics. Jeff became like a best girlfriend but more fun because he was a boy. If there was an item of gossip, I would have to run over to his apartment and wake him up to tell him. We would e-mail back and forth all day at our jobs. We became inseparable.

Once we started dating, we took trips to Zion’s and Moab, Glenwood Springs, and Vegas. On long car trips we would make up fake stories about people we knew and laugh. One time Jeff made up a particularly funny one about his brother Daniel’s girlfriend at the time, Margie. I still haven’t forgotten, “A Trip to Russia.”

This is one of my favorite pictures of us at Zion's. Jeff used to have a funny habit of standing on rocks and stuff to make himself taller when we were dating. He had this picture up at his work for a long time and when his co-workers finally met me, they were surpised that I wasn't 5'2.

Jeff is a peaceful and sweet person and he has a way of making me feel happy just by being around him. He is my buddy and I am in love with him. I have never doubted that out of all the men in the world, he was just the right one for me. I dated a lot but I never seemed to match up with anyone. I think it is a huge miracle that somehow we found each other and I was able to find a way to his heart even though he had a bad time with making commitments and wanting to get married. He is my heart and my Valentine. I love you J.