How it all Began

I have had to write this story out a couple of times over the last few days for some friends on Facebook- and I decided that it would be much easier to just post it here and send people to it. Maybe I will even get some more attention to my blogness that way. :)

OK- the saga between Ross and I is a long and confusing story- so I hope you are ready for this :) Ross and I met in an astronomy class at BYU-Idaho. He came in and sat down by me because (he told me later) he thought I had really pretty hair (it was down to my butt at that point). When he sat down there was like this instant connection. I felt totally comfortable with him (something totally uncahracteristc of this little wall flower!). Astonomy grew to be my favorite class every day because I knew that Ross and I would get to talk for an hour. After about a month of just chatting and laughing in class he asked me out on a date. I turned him down because I kind of liked him, and that scared me. I was in the process of planning my wedding with Eric Owens (he was on his mission at the time, but had only 7 months or so left.) Well, he asked a couple other times, and I finally said yes to 2 of them. On the second date he held my hand and we had a really great hug at the end which I am fairly certain would have been our first kiss- but then a big picture of Eric popped into my head, and I quickly thanked him and ran inside.

The next day in class I told him just how serious my missionary and I were. At that point he was interested in two girls- me, and another girl in his ward who was preparing to serve a mission. After our little chat in class that day, he decided it would probably be easier to keep her from going on a mission than to get me to "Dear John" Eric. So- we continued our talks in class (he ended up with a D in the class, because he really only came to see me- I got an A-) and became really close friends. About 4 months later we were both waiting for missionaries together. When Eric came home and that whole thing fell apart- it was one of the hardest times of my life. Ross really stepped in there as my best friend and helped me through it.

During this really hard time he was so wonderful that I started to fall for him, and I could tell that he was starting to fall for me. This scared both of us because I did not want to have someone as special to me as Ross as my rebound- and he was in love with another girl. He did not want to be my rebound from a 4 year relationship, and he was trying to stay in love with Erin (I think it is funny that we both waited for missionaries with names that are one letter off from each other). We both fought our feelings down and just stayed totally plutonic. After about 6 months of this, Ross asked me to a dance on campus- the day of. I was excited to go to formal with someone I could be totally comfortable with. I rushed around to try and borrow a dress and get my hair done and be all pretty. He took me to a great restaurant and we had a great time. When we got to the dance- the first slow song that played was my song- Lady in Red- which was even cooler because the only dress I could find to borrow was red- bright red! We danced and he held me closer than usual because the place was packed. At one point in the song when it says "I've never seen you lookin' so gorgeous as you do tonight. . ." he sang it and whispered in my ear that it was true. Then I looked at him to make some funny remark, but we caught each other's glance and there were butterflies all over!!! The rest of the night was just weird and exciting. He would hold my hand to lead me through crowds (something we always did in crowded places) but then he wouldn't let go afterwards. After the dance, neither of us wanted the night to end, so he took me back to my apartment where I changed, and we went walking- in 20 below zero weather, in some way cool fog. It was so romantic.

At the end of the night he dropped me off, but before he let me out of the car he said "OK- there is a song that has been running through my head all night, but I am afraid that if I act on it, I will lose my best friend, and I am not willing to compromise that." I asked him what song he was thinking of, and he said, "Something from The Little Mermaid." I then decided to be a little facetious and listed every song from the CD- he was suprised that I knew all of them- but then when I said "Kiss the Girl?" he asked if it would mess things up. I told him that it would not- but things would definitely change. So- we kissed, and from then on started dating.This whole dating mess was really hard because I went back home for winter semester. I was also trying to balance my roles of being Ross's best friend who was supporting him trhough missing his missionary (stupid hoe!!) and his girlfriend who was falling in love with someone who was in love with soemone else. We tried to take turns visiting each other, and things were fun- but so confusing. On Valentines Day he told me he loved me for the first time. He never told Erin about me- but she wrote him off in March. This meant that we were able to get much more serious, because one of our biggest obstacles was out of the way. We got so serious that it hit that point where you can either get married or break up. We broke up- but we both made a conscious effort to stay friends- which we did.

When I came back to school in the summer we hung out all the time- it was like we were dating, just not kissing. I kept waiting for him to realize how much he loved me and come crawling back. Afer a month of that crap I went out with a guy in my ward who had been asking me out. We really hit it off, and on our third date we kissed and I was sooo happy! I went to go tell my best friend about my new relationship- and was shocked when he was mad at me. He started telling me what a whore (yes- he used that word!! He was rally upset!) I was for kissing so soon, and just said some really nasty things. The fight got pretty heated- and I left that night thinking that I had lost my best friend, and I was heartbroken. I decided that it would be OK because Mark was such a great guy.

The next day I didn't go to my class because I had not slept much the night before. I stayed home in my PJ's and did some laundry. I was surprised when Ross called me. He said, "We need to talk- can you be ready in half an hour?" In my mind I was thinking "Oh great- he is just going to yell at me. I am going to make sure he sees what he gave up!" So I got all ready and I looked HOT!!! When he showed up he helped me into his truck and drove me out to this little spot in the middle of a potato field and he was grinning from ear to ear. He puled me out and gave me a hug and said, "OK- here's the deal. I am still not ready to get married and I don't know when I will be. I don't know when, and I don't know where. . . but I do know who." Then he got on his knee and gave me a ring that said "For Time and all Eternity" and asked if I would marry him. I said yes, and had to go home and explain to my boyfriend why we had to break up- awkward!!A month later he took me to the same spot and gave me my real ring, and told me not to get my own housing for the fall because he was ready to marry me before the semester started.