Believe it or not, we weren't always this crazy in Love!
Once upon a time we were just friends!
It took us years to get this CRAZY!
I was just a girl he met once, when he had to give me a ride to a church activity with his friend Jeremy Vick. In fact I had a boyfriend and had only recently joined his church. I had never met him before, but was asked by a Stake councilman to attend an activity with him. Jeremy and Kent were old friends and spent most of the long ride to Brewster talking about their great adventures and how cool they were. I wasn't impressed. It turns out when we got to the activity plans had changed and we were now going to read from Jesus the Christ and have beef stew. The beef stew had peas (Kent's nemesis) so gallantly he leaned over and with his most chivalrous smile, he whispered, "you don't have to eat the stew, peas are gross". Then he said, "at least they have brownies". In that brief moment he became sweet and kind. I knew I could trust him. He had tried to save me from the peas and I appreciated the gesture. I wouldn't tell him peas were my favorite vegetable until years later. When the activity was over we returned to Jeremy's car and proceeded to drive home. Jeremy wanted to drop me off at the church but I had no way home from there. I remember thinking I would have to walk miles to get to my house. I didn't know Jeremy and so I was afraid to push for a ride to my house. Kent insisted that Jeremy drive me home. That was the second time he saved me that day. When we got to my house my boyfriend was waiting. He was upset I had spent the afternoon with two boys from my church and in jealousy he said, "you'll probably marry one of them someday!" I laughed it off as I thought of how mean Jeremy was and how Kent had saved me. I didn't give either of them much more thought. For Kent I would be cataloged in his memory as the girl with the pretty lips!
We wouldn't meet again for two years! actually just before this picture of me with the pumpkins was taken. A friend of mine dragged me along with her to the singles ward, one Sunday in August. She had just returned home from BYU and I was just about to move to Utah. I was at a crossroads in my faith and My boyfriend and I were at an impasse and I needed to get away and decide what was more important to me. The singles ward was the last place I wanted to go, but to be nice I went with her. During the meeting I noticed Kent. I had immediately recognized him, but had forgotten his name. So later, when I saw him in the hall, I said,"Hey I know you!" He was a little surprised, so I quickly introduced myself and asked if he had gone to Brewster with me one Sunday a few years back. He remembered quickly and we reminisced about the stew and the car ride. He asked if I was planning on coming to the singles ward again and I told him that I was moving to Utah. He said that was too bad, he'd like to talk some more! I said maybe in a couple more years! We left it at that.
Six months later I returned home I had broken up with my boyfriend received a testimony of Temple marriage and got my patriarchal blessing. I was going on a mission. Another girl I had met in Utah(Angie) had moved to my home ward over Christmas break and I was surprised to see her there when I went to church. She had taken a job as a nanny and was desperate to speak with someone her own age. She was as surprised to see me too and we quickly became good friends. She was dying to go to the singles ward and begged me to go with her. We attended the next Sunday. When we first got there I didn't see Kent. He strolled in a few minutes late and sat in the back. He wore this leather coat the whole meeting and he didn't open the Hymn book once to sing a song!
He wasn't my type at all, yet I was so drawn to him. After sacrament meeting I ran into him in the hall. He said, "Hey don't I know you?" So I quickly played dumb! No, with a blank look on my face. "Yeah we went to Brewster together?" He looked confused, so I smiled and assured him that I did remember him. We both laughed and then caught up quickly. He said I'm glad you are back and smiled. He said I should go to the singles ward and by the end of the day he (the ward clerk) and his Dad (the Bishop) were having our records transferred.
Angie found him fascinating and quickly wanted to know everything about him. Over the next few weeks we started attending the singles ward regularly. We found out Kent was recently dating a Nanny who had moved back to Utah and that she had broken his heart.
You may think this is where we fall crazy in love but you would be wrong.
No, instead I dated this boy who was leaving on a mission and one Sunday another girl in the ward told me how much he really liked me and how it would just break his heart if I broke up with him. Yikes!!!! I was stuck in that relationship till he left on his mission a few months later. When he left He asked me to wait for him! : ) I gave him a pen and said write me. I never wrote back. During that time Kent called me out of the blue just to chat. He began calling me a lot and soon he would say, "Can't a boy and girl just be friends?" Before you knew it we were friends. The best of friends! Then the rumors started! Are they dating! She likes him! He likes her! The pressure was immense and I was still not ready for that kind of relationship. I was preparing to go on a mission. Kent didn't want to go on a mission. He didn't have his Patriarchal blessing. He didn't even sing songs in Sacrament meeting. He was not my type! Yet I couldn't stop thinking about him. One weekend we took a ride to the beach and there looking out at the water talking about our future he leaned in and kissed me! Right in the middle of We're just friends he changed his mind. I however was still going on a mission.
My old boyfriend invited me to a baseball game a few weeks later and while we were at the game. Kent and some other people went to a miniature golf /arcade place and Kent put our names into a machine which said if we were compatible based on our birthdays. It said we would never work out because Kent isn't romantic. It became the running joke that we shouldn't date because he isn't romantic. Well inspired by all of the teasing, Kent began sending anonymous love letters. He refused to say weather it was him or not. After two weeks he admitted it was him. He invited me to go on a date with him, which was the most romantic date ever. He picked me up at my house and drove us to a beautiful beach where two of our friends(Charlie and Tammy) cooked us an amazing dinner. They pretended like it was a restaurant there was a table with linens, china and candles. Tammy was the waitress and acted like she didn't know us. It was so funny. There we were in the middle of the sand looking out on the ocean. It was everything you could imagine a perfect date would be. If I thought there were rumors before, now they were ten fold. Because I was preparing to go on a mission, I thought a relationship at that time would be too much. So, a week or two later I told Kent I needed a break. At first he understood and gave me my space but then he was angry. He felt I had broken up with him even though we weren't dating. He didn't speak to me for a few weeks.
At the end of summer, He called to tell me he was going to get his patriarchal blessing. The day he received it, he called to tell me he was going to go on a mission. I was so happy for him. In the next month he got his papers together and sent them in. He received his call quickly and He was assigned to Mexico Monterrey North. He would leave in February. Over the next few months I began dating a boy I knew from my home ward. Kent and I became friends again and spoke often. He left in February. I was sad when he was gone, but got to work getting ready for my mission. I went to the temple in April and sent in my mission papers in June. I got my mission call to Argentina Neuquen. I was leaving in September. We keep in touch over the two year span of our missions we wrote lots of letters they were sporadic and inconsistent because of the mailing system so it wasn't much of a correspondence. Kent got home in January of the following year and I was coming home in March.
Kent had a plan and as soon as he got home he began writing weekly. Telling me about home and how excited he would be when I got there. As the weeks went by he began making plans for us. He had it in his head that he was going to marry me! My companions predicted we would get married when I got home. So it was no surprise to see him at the airport on that freezing cold day in March when I returned.
I was so happy to see him, I couldn't think in English and needed someone who could understand my Spanish.
You may think this is the part of the story when they finally fall in love. All I have to say is not yet.
We enjoyed sharing our mission stories and adventures. We were closer then ever and everyone knew it! The talk was he wanted to marry me and he would as soon as I got home. Which is a lot of pressure for a newly returned missionary. Kent was different too! He knew what he wanted in life and he wasn't playing this time. With all the pressure to get married quickly, I lied and told him I prayed about him and he wasn't the one for me. Yikes! Please don't judge me I wasn't ready to pray about marriage and my patriarchal blessing encourages me to be careful about my decision in who I marry. He took it okay and moved on. I did too!
I started dating this guy that was new to our Ward and also just returned from a mission. He had just broken off an engagement and was full of all these ideals. It turns out he was the prefect person for me to spend sometime with. We talked a lot and I discovered some things about me and the person I wanted to marry. I don't think I would of learned if I hadn't dated him. Well in this time Kent started dating someone else too! She was cute and young. Well maybe a little too cute and too young and I didn't really like her or the way Kent didn't look at me anymore and guess what?
I WAS JEALOUS! I think that was his plan though!
One Sunday we stayed late at Church talking in the parking lot. We talked about us, our friendship over the years, why I didn't think I could marry him. I confessed to my lie and we were finally on the same page. We decided we would try officially dating! It was fourth of July week, we met up on Monday, then Wednesday we went to the fireworks together and on Friday when I was at his house we went outside and talked under the stars. That night he convinced me to marry him, he promised we would make each other happy and that we would be the best of friends forever. Right there under the stars we prayed and asked God if we should get married. I can still feel the peace in the air. I remember as I drove home that night the stars in the sky and the music on the radio all seem to say I had made the right choice.
Kent's sister was getting married in November, so we had to push off our wedding till January. On a cold day in January Kent picked me up in a rental car and we drove to Washington DC alone. His parents would meet us there the next morning. We got two hotel rooms and retired early. I felt all alone there, even though Kent was right next door. In the morning I got up and got dressed alone and did my hair, put my Sunday clothes on and when I was ready Kent came to pick me up! It had snowed and we were worried Kent's parents wouldn't make it to the temple. They were flying in that morning!
They made it just fine though!
On that cold snowy day we were Sealed for Time and all Eternity in a beautiful ceremony. Kent's parents, my friend Michele and her Mom (who introduced me to the church) and Brother Badstubner were there. It was quiet, solemn and perfect!
This is the only shot we got in front of the temple because it was still snowing!
This picture reminds me of the ones people had in there houses in Argentina! We look so stiff I don't know why we had already been married for two days!
These are my Niece and Nephew at the reception!
We met in 1990,
We saw each other again in 1992,
We became friends in 1993,
We left for our Missions in 1994,
We returned in 1996,
We got married in 1997,
After that everything was a piece of cake! : )
Here's to the thirteen years of being married to my best friend and to thirteen more!
I am thankful for the tender mercies of the Lord which brought us together over and over again.
I would be surprised to find out Kent wasn't made just for me!
I love him!
