Her Side

I guess we've talked about how crazy in love we are but we haven't really told you the whole story yet. Here's my side...

The week before I went to EFY this past summer I was joking with a friend. I told her I was gonna go to EFY and steal me a counselor. We laughed. It was so not going to happen. I showed up at Nauvoo on August 10th. I met my roommates (crazy teenage girls) and met my counselor, Jentri. The girls asked, of course, what she knew about our boys. Her answer was that she didn't know but that our guy counselor's name was Tony, he was from Texas, and he was old. Great...

Well, we went to meet the boys. I wasn't impressed. BUT...there was a handsome counselor wearing a silly cowboy hat. He had a belt buckle and he talked funny. BUT...he was old. Oh well...poor Jeri Lin wasn't going to find herself a husband at EFY this year.

That week in Nauvoo was one of the best of my entire life. I gained a greater testimony. I learned what it was really like to ask the Lord a question and to get a direct answer from the Spirit. Tony and I didn't spend a whole lot of time together those first two days. He was more interested in helping his boys than he was with being my friend. BUT...Wednesday rolled around and we broke into groups to tour Old Nauvoo. I was going to go with Jentri or Tiffanie but then I went with Tony. I have no idea why. My feet just went that way and I didn't argue. That's when we really hit it off. In my mind, Tony was fast becoming one of my very best friends. I had found someone I could relate to. Someone who loved the gospel as much as me, if not more. Someone who was wanted to teach me about the temple. Someone who would sit and answer questions whenever I had them. BUT...I knew there was no way it could ever be more than just friends. He was old! All week he kept telling me how frustrated he was that all these girls coming into the singles ward were like ten years younger than him. He was so not interested...at all. Period.

Before I left Nauvoo on Saturday morning I wrote Tony a quick note, thanking him for everything he had done for me and wishing him the best in life. Nowhere in that note did I hint at any sort of feelings I may have had for him. That wasn't the purpose of the note...at all. Period. He'll tell you differently I suppose. To him, that note gave him the courage to pursue something. I hadn't been home a whole day before we were chatting on facebook and he was flirting with me..."If only you were five years older..."

I knew I wanted to marry Tony before he ever flew out to visit me. He kept saying, "I need to come out there. I know how I want this to work out but we need to spend some time together..." I kept thinking, "Hurry up and get out here. I know you'll figure it out..." Sure enough. He did. We were sitting on the couch in my parents' house the Sunday before he left and he said, "Do you wanna get married?" Yes. Yes, I do...