love that guy

T and I celebrate our ten year anniversary today! 

Here's the story:

We met June 3, 1998. I was a brand new missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,

I was on my way to Sapporo, Japan and first had to make a quick stop in Utah to learn the language.

I met T that night, as he was to be one of my teachers. 

First impression:

I was actually a little intimidated, which is hilarious looking back.

He looked so smart and he was so confident.

He turned out to be my absolute favorite of the three teachers I had. He was so funny, so down to earth, and just a little crazy. He never got annoyed with our class, would create these silly games to help us remember the language, the Gospel, the teaching principles we were learning. He made the Missionary Training Center experience the *best* I could imagine.

I adored him, but not that way.

K, I'll admit, I totally thought he was hot, but that was it.

We wrote a couple times while I was in Japan, mostly because I had an awesome missionary companion who kept careful track of birthdays, holidays, etc. So I'd add a note at the end of her letters and stuff. When I returned from my mission, I emailed all of my teachers to tell them thanks and what a great experience it had been. T wrote back right away and from there we were pretty much writing every day. I was in D.C. and he was in Utah, so we mostly wrote and once in a while we'd call each other. 

When I got back to school, we started dating and that was the end of that.

We were engaged on the Fourth of July, 2000

(I think)

and we were married on September 30, 2000

(I know)

Then the real fun began.

Wow, marriage is the hardest thing I've ever experienced but it's also the most rewarding. I don't say it enough, but he is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

He is not intimidating.

He is kind.

He is such a nerd.

He is loving.

He is the funnest dad any boy could ever ask for.

He'd be a hilarious dad to a girl. Not gonna happen, though.

He is kinda crazy.

In a creative-genius-it's-ok-cause-they're-allowed-to-be way.

He is a fantastic filmmaker.

He loves road trips as much as I do.

He has a pure heart.

He's excessively patient.

He makes me smile.
*****

I think we'll stick it out for a few decades more.

Or maybe even forever.

Yeah, forever sounds good.

All of these are scanned so not the best quality. But you can see, he is hot, isn't he? If you are his sister and are reading this, you totally are excused from answering that. Oh, and anyone reading this knows I'm, like, two feet taller than him.

We don't care.

It makes for *awesome* stories.

Like when we were on a double date and asked the waitress at a sushi restaurant to split the check (even making gestures, dividing the table in two). She gave our double date (who matched. racially, that is. and were normal. husband-taller-than-wife, that is.) a combined bill and then a separate bill to each T and me.

Awesome.

Height discrimination is real, people.