How We Met

TWO POSTS in the SAME month!  AMAZING!!!!

Please do not think this means I will be posting like this all of the time.  However, as Ann pointed out, there are several members of my family who have not heard the story and while I am not opposed to talking to each and every one of them I figured this would be a more efficient way of sharing.  So, allow me to introduce a wonderful woman.  This is Bethany:

Please note her aversion at having her picture taken.  I tried several times to get her to look up for my phone camera, the closest I got was this one:

A little on the blurry side, but I think you can see her well enough. 


Now that I have introduced you to her (and possibly gotten into a bit of trouble for posting these pictures of her, sorry Bethany, well... sort of sorry), I will give you the backstory. 

Several months ago now, while attending the Priesthood Session of General Conference, I heard a talk by Elder Quentin L. Cook entitled "Choose Wisely".  For many years I have not been content with being single.  It has been, and remains, my desire to find my eternal companion and as the years have piled up without me getting any closer to marriage I had found myself less and less satisfied with my situation.  I had also become comfortable in my situation.  I have a decent job, I get to travel a fair amount and sleep in and see the movies I want to see.  I am not content, but I am comfortable.  I hadn't given it much thought until Elder Cook said  the following:

"You single men, the longer you remain single after an appropriate age and maturity, the more comfortable you can become.  But the more uncomfortable you ought to become!  Please get "anxiously engaged" in spiritual and social activities compatible with your goal of a temple marriage."

His words, accompanied by a sharp poke from the Holy Ghost, spoke to me directly.  I was too comfortable in being single and it was far past time for me to become more engaged.  I went home and decided to rejoin a singles website I had used in the past.  I committed to myself I would date anyone within a 100 mile radius of where I live that showed any real interest in me.  I even let my coworker pick profiles she liked and sent messages to them.  I had a few nibbles here and there, but by and large there was no real response to my efforts and I was beginning to wonder what else I needed to do (heaven forbid I might actually have to go to a Single Adult activity...).  It was about that time I received a message from a woman in Oregon.  Now, Oregon is definitely outside of my 100 mile radius and I was prepared to send her a polite, but definite Thanks but No Thanks type of message, that is until I read her message to me. 

It turns out Bethany is a Red Sox fan, and what's more her favorite player from her youth was my same favorite player!  We both liked Mike Greenwell growing up!  I couldn't just say no to a fellow Red Sox fan, even if she did live on the other side of the continent from me.  So we began exchanging messages on the singles website.  I found myself looking forward to her message each day.  She is intelligent, witty, and seemed to get my unique sense of humor.  After a couple weeks we began chatting online.  We shared life experiences and I began to find out just how much she has been through.  Out of respect to her I will simply say there are a couple guys who made huge mistakes when they failed to treat this woman properly.  She has two beautiful children from her 2nd marriage as shown in one of the pictures above and several in my last post.  We began talking on the phone to each other before Thanksgiving and I flew out to see her in January. 

I wont predict what the future will bring for either of us, we are still rather early in our relationship and there are many challenges to overcome still (distance and money for example), but I find myself wanting to talk to her every day and wishing I lived a lot closer to her than I currently do.  I find myself thinking of ways to find time to see her again and still enjoy getting a daily email from her.  I guess you could say we have passed the point of just being friends and entered a true courtship stage.  For the more romantic out there... I like her.

A lot.