Three of the longest years of our lives

Today is our three year anniversary and I wonder how many people who knew both myself and Emily thought we'd actually make it together for this long. Given that we both have strong personalities, we do butt heads, but so far we've made it. And it's funny, because when we met, we didn't like each other.

Emily had lived in Kansas City while I was on my mission. Before I got back she had moved to Omaha to take care of her dad. She would come back from time to time to visit her friend Kathryn, who also became my friend. I remember the first time I met Emily. We didn't like each other. We were both in not-so-great times of our lives and weren't particularly endearing to each other. I remember Emily yelled at me and my friend Donald for being too loud after she had gone to bed. She was probably right. Donald and I aren't known for our subtlety.

A while after that Kathryn said she was going up to Omaha for Emily's birthday. She didn't want to have to drive up and back all in the same day so I agreed to go with her to share the driving. When I got there Emily gave me a kiss on the cheek and that was the first time I thought "Hey...maybe." She says she was giving everyone a kiss on the cheek, but I think I was the only one for whom she actually meant it ;)

Well, I nursed a small crush that ended up going away again. The months went by and we ended up in February of 2005. Kathryn had planned this big trip with all her friends to go to Nauvoo. I had just decided that the girl I liked at the time and had been hanging out with was never going to be the one for me and I started to look for someone else. Kathryn had mentioned that Emily was coming with us to Nauvoo and I started to get excited to see her again.

During this time I wasn't able to go to the temple and I almost backed out on the trip. I had committed to drive, though, and didn't want to leave my friends without a big car right before their trip. So we went to Nauvoo and before their temple session we were all in the LDS bookstore. Emily had mentioned she used to have this sort of spinner CTR ring (one piece of metal sits on a larger piece and you can spin the top piece around, kind of cool) that she had lost. I casually asked her what size her finger was (which she didn't pick up on) and while she was at the temple I bought that ring. I gave it to her that night and she was thrilled.

The next morning we had the Define The Relationship talk, mostly because we lived three hours from each other and that really is a long distance relationship. I told her that we'd just make it work. This was February 27, 2005.

Then, in April, we got tickets to go to Aida at the Kansas City Music Hall. We'd already bought the engagement/wedding ring and Emily was about to go on vacation to Kentucky to visit her family. She wanted to show off the ring so, after the show, in Kathryn's driveway, I proposed. I had all these other romantic plans, but none of them seemed to work out. In a way, since Kathryn was the one who got us together, I think it was appropriate to use her driveway.

Now, after three years, we're still together. We still fight, a lot. We yell, we curse, we say hurtful things, but somehow we get over it, like most couples. And though I don't believe in "the one" as in "the one person you're supposed to be with and if you miss them you're screwed for life"; I am glad it was Emily I ended up with. The kind of nerdiness we both have work for us. I don't have to try to be cooler. I can still enjoy the things I always have and so can she. I support her in her educational endeavers and she has encouraged my creativity.

These three years have been tough because we always seem to work opposite schedules. This works so we can take care of Will, but it's difficult because we don't get a lot of time together. I'm really looking forward to when we travel together so we can have all those experiences with each other. And so we can learn new definitions of ticking each other off ;)