The Merrill's

Thursday, September 25, 2014

The "How we fell in Love" post..

Okay, I know it's been a while. 

Like, too long, a while. 

But guess what? There's a reason for that. 
I'm in love.

What? Right? Who knew? It's not like I haven't been blowing up social media with the cute blonde boy or anything.

I've been meaning to write the "How we met and fell in love" post for a while now. I know a lot of you have heard it (and let's be honest, probably anyone that ever reads this has) but I want to relive it a bit for myself, and our future children's selves. 
(woah, OUR future children. Yeah, I said it)

Benjamin was my anatomy tutor and TA (teacher's assistant) down in Brigham city.

Yeah, I know what you're all thinking, so get it out of your systems now. 

I, with many other students would make the 30ish minute trek down the canyon last spring semester twice a week to avoid taking the class at the University from the awful professor who teaches it up there.  

Little did I know, I'd be getting more than an Anatomy lesson. (heh heh)

Benjamin said I stood out to him from the very beginning. He remembered my rainbow headband I wore the first day he met me, and that I was the only girl in our Lab course that thanked him for holding the door open for us. He told me that he later wrote a note next to my name in his phone to remember my name that said; "rainbow headband, very friendly, cute smile"

The first memory that stuck with me from him was our first day in Lab. I wanted to color coordinate the bones on my lab sheet, and he had one of those 90's style pens that had the several different colors around the end of it, You know, the ones you could choose from 5 or so colors to click down and use. I remember thinking how cute and geeky it was that he had the pen, and how nerdy, sweet, and handsome to me he was. 

It took me several weeks to admit this to my carpool group, however. :)

Many early study sessions, hundreds of questions, and two tests in, Ben and I were talking in the hall after lab and before lecture one day. I had been griping to Ben about my recent test score, and was telling him how I thought my grade had been higher, blah blah.

In the middle of my sentence, Ben cuts me off and says "yeah, I am sorry about that. Hey, would you want to go on a date with  me sometime?"

I was flattered, shocked, and turning bright red. He had caught me so off guard. Despite my surprise, however, I found myself replying with a "Sure! I would love to!" really before I even realized it. 

(He later told me he didn't listen to a word I said during that conversation, and was just spending the time geting up the guts to finally ask me on a date)

A week or so later, Ben took me on our first date to the Mandarin in Bountiful. I think he wanted to impress me with how cool it was, and tried really hard to hide his slight disappointment when he found out I had been there several times. I still gave him cool points for picking it though, don't worry. 

It was a long first date, driving from Logan to Bountiful and back and all, and we covered a lot of ground. I remember how handsome he looked when he picked me up promptly, and how sweet he was to make sure my doors were always open, and chairs were always pulled out. At one point he even called me out for trying to open my own car door several times, and it caught me so off gaurd, it took me till he dropped me off to realize how genuine and kind it was. 

To be honest, i'd like to say that it was all history from there. That after our first date, we both fell madly in love with each other, and it was sunshine and roses.
That would be a lie. 

It took me longer to warm up to Ben. He wasn't the type of guy I usually dated. 
You know, nice. 

I let him chase me for a good month, but was always honest about how unsure and scared I was about getting into a relationship. 
 He was patient, I was honest, and eventually I let him sweep me off my feet.

And that he did. For my birthday, he hand made me these beautiful roses made with ribbon and wrote me the sweetest poem. Pretty daring seeing as how I still was pretty unsure about the whole thing. He didn't care though, he later shared with me that he wasn't gonna let me go, and was prepared to do anything to keep me around.
It worked.

But honestly, that was where I could pin point it really happening. That's where I let him in, and let him truly begin to show me how amazing he really was.

After that, the rest really is history. He  moved up to Logan (did I mention he'd drive 45 minutes both ways to help me study nearly every night, and yes, I really do mean study)
I got a good grade in Anatomy, and a boyfriend. A word I hadn't used in...well...a long time.

We spent all summer having adventures,
 helping each other through rough times,
 moving (3 times),
 meeting family,
introducing him to baseball games,
and falling in love.

I never thought this would happen to me, and I know what you're thinking, everyone always says that, but it's true.

I spent many a days after we started talking about marriage freaking out, until one day.
The day he quoted to me my New Year's blog post and the word I had chosen for my resolution word.

Trust.
"Trust me", he said. "Trust yourself. Trust that Heavenly Father knows what He's doing with us."
And, guess what?
I do.
I trust Him more than ever, and just like I committed to months ago,
I trust this boy that wants to make me his.
 I trust that he will love me forever,
I trust that I have made the best decision I have yet.

We are sealing the deal November 22nd of this year, and I can hardly wait to say yes to letting this incredible man be a part of my life for eternity.

I trust that this is the start of a really great next chapter in my book of life.