A Love Story

I didn't want to fall in love with my husband.

Oh, no. I sure didn't! There were so many things working against him: I met him on my mission, he lived far away, he was younger than me (still is, surprise!!!), and had a lot of schooling left to do.

But I couldn't help myself. He was irresistible to me [still is :)].

I met him while we were both missionaries in Las Vegas. He was witty, cute, and my district leader. He was nerdy. He wasn't cocky. He was kind. After a few weeks, I had hope that if someone existed like this that there might be another one of them out there--somewhere--in the world, and there was hope that I'd get married. Because, of course, Austin (or shall I say Elder Whipple? Meow.*) was out of the question.

Even though he was completely out of the question, I resolved to write him when I returned home from the mission. Oh, the irony.

I waited a WHOLE WEEK after I got home to write him. You know, so he wouldn't get creeped out by me writing him the moment I got home. I was quite delighted when I got a reply from him--he had written me right away! We exchanged six** letters--three letters each--before he came home. The only encouragement that he gave me was the promptness of his replies. I tried to keep my letters very friendly but not flirty in the least so he wouldn't get trunky. Those letters were not "juicy" at all, but they were so funny!

I started dating someone in the single's branch that I was attending, so the last letter I wrote had a postscript informing Austin that I had just started dating someone (let's call him Steve). I wrote this as soon as I started dating the guy; I believe in being open and honest. In the postscript, I also asked if Austin and I could still be friends.
A week passed, and things weren't going super great with Steve. I wasn't even sure that he liked me! (why did he want to date me? I don't know.) I tried to break up with him, but he talked me out of it. Another week went by. At the end of that week, Steve and I had planned a date: We were going to have dinner (prepared by yours truly!) then go to an a capella concert performed by the talented men of Voice Male. Dinner was ready a little early, so I got on Facebook while I waited for Steve. I saw a notification indicating that I had a friend request. As I moved my mouse to click on the notification, I wondered who would send me a friend request. I had already linked to my new friends in the branch and friends from the mission, so I had no idea who it could be.

It was Austin Whipple! I of course accepted the friend request and looked at his page. As I looked, I had many fond memories of good times back on the mission. This was in spite of a profile picture from when he was in high school and one that I thought was very unflattering. Since then, Austin's removed the picture, so you won't find it. Anyway, even with that picture that didn't look much like my friend (Austin), the memories came flooding back to me.

At this moment, I heard a knock at the door. I jumped up from the computer, excited to spend a fun evening with Steve. When I opened the door, I had a happy expression on my face. I saw Steve (who I was expecting), and felt my expression change. I knew that he had seen the disappointment that I felt before I could cover it up. Understandably, he was confused.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Yes," I replied, and invited him in. My mind was racing. I was disappointed to see Steve, my boyfriend, but incredibly happy at the thought of renewing a friendship with a friend from the mission. Something was wrong here. What was I to do?

I didn't say anything during the meal, but decided that a breakup was in order. Not having a large repertoire of breakup experience to call upon but knowing that they were painful, I wanted to do it nicely. Long story short, at the end of the date we broke up, and it turns out that Steve was ready for a breakup too.

I didn't think that things were going anywhere with Austin, but we continued sending messages and e-mails back and forth to continue our correspondence. Austin was real smooth here and asked if I wanted to keep writing letters. Of course I said yes and gave a hint that he should call me. Disappointingly, he didn't ask for my number, so I kept hinting, getting more and more obvious until I finally gave him my number. Without him asking for it. Seriously--I told you he's irresistible to me!

From there it escalated. We talked on the phone several times a week and sent frequent e-mails and Facebook messages. Becky, my roommate at the time, called our phone conversations "phone dates," but I was in denial (how?) and insisted that nothing was going to come of it; we were just friends. I also didn't want a long distance relationship, because I thought they were silly. I had seen enough of my friends in long distance relationships that were disintegrating, and I wanted none of that!

I told Austin that when he started school at BYU, he should go on lots of dates. I didn't want him to feel obligated to continue our friendship or to feel that because we spent so much time together that he shouldn't date other girls. He said he would, but when he got to BYU, he didn't go on any dates. And he didn't for a couple weeks. Finally, Austin told me that while he was looking, he couldn't find anyone that he wanted to date; none of them could hold a candle to me. How romantic!

After two and a half months of denial, I was finally able to admit to myself that I really liked this guy and that things might work out. We decided to become "official" and I knew I had met Mr. Right before a month was up. I didn't tell him, of course, but he came to the same conclusion about me, and we were engaged a little over a week after he arrived in South Carolina to "woo" me, as he says.

Now, four years after we met (has it really been that long?? we've only been married for a little over 1.5 years), we are so in love. Austin is my best friend, and I am his. We love each other.


A little timeline:
August 2008: We meet
August 2009: I start writing Austin
November 2009: We start talking on the phone
January 2010: We become "official"
May 2010: We become engaged
December 2010: We're married!!!
November 2011: Levi is born
July 2012: Now


*Meow is an expression that I picked up from one of my companions (she's from Hong Kong). It is used whenever something is awkward.
**I think. I wrote the first and the last letters, though, so I don't really know how it could be an even number! Maybe there were 7 letters. I'm pretty sure I have 3 from him, so that would make sense.