This past weekend my beautiful wife celebrated her birthday (I will refrain from mentioning the life milestone that was attained). It got me thinking about how lucky I am to have her in my life.
Kristine and I randomly met our first days at BYU, when she and her roomates ditched their designated Y-group to join group 149, The End. I remember that my attention was immediately drawn to her and her friends. She had (and still does have) this quality of being able to make everyone around her want to get to know her. I think it has something to do with her smile that is both comforting and inviting. You want to make her smile and you want to smile along with her. Then it just intensifies when you hear her laugh. Her laugh has got to be one of the greatest sounds in the entire world. Lately, the deep guttural laugh has occurred while participating in our new family tradition of watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" together. Don't mock, there is nothing better than seeing a mom try to stand at the top of a kiddie slide and slip and land on her back or when they have a montage such as, "How many people can trip in one minute?" James has already discovered the allure of his mother's laugh. He hears her laugh during AFV and then tries to pretend to fall down, just to be able to have the surreal experience of being the cause of his mother's laugh.
It has now been over eleven years since Kristine and I met, but I would have to say that the time that I really fell for her was when we were apart. For six months Kris and I were both serving missions for our church; she in South Africa, while I was in France. I often dig out our old letters from that time in an effort to relive this unusual connection. It was during these months that I realized that she would be the girl that I would compare every other girl to. The summer she returned I convinced Joel that we needed to go to our good "friend" from freshman year's homecoming, I had butterflies in my stomach from Vegas to Fresno. But once I saw her again and sat in awe as she so simply and powerfully spoke about covenants that Sunday, I knew that I wanted to do whatever it would take to make sure that I would be the lucky one that would get to spend every day with her.
We fairly quickly got engaged (a short few weeks after she returned to Provo) and what follows are the best years of my life. Although Kristine claims that we never went on an official date, I remember finding ways to spend as much time together as possible as we juggled work (me in SLC at the Club, her at the bunny hutches of Provo), classes, and homework. We would go to the movies, get the screaming deal of a kids meal at Burgers Supreme, go to cheer on the Cougs at the football games, and just sit around and talk.
We got married in Salt Lake on Groundhog Day almost seven years ago. Our first home (this somehow doesn't seem to be the right word) was in an ugly blue box of a house south of the BYU campus, in a basement apartment underneath some random group of boys. The sinking kitchen with red carpeted walls, lack of control over the thermostat, having to reach outside of the shower to turn it off, and having a direct duct connection with the upstairs bathroom are a few treasured memories of that place; however, it is here that we simply found pleasure in not having to say goodbye to each other every night and it might be the only time in my life that Kristine would cuddle with me during the night :)
We quickly moved to SLC after Kristine's graduation and lived in a teeny apartment on 11th East. I have great memories during this time of experiencing the great restaurants and life of downtown SLC (many thanks to the Bureau for that). We met some dear friends and Kris and I had a while to continue to simply spend time together before moving to Evelyn's duplex on 9th about a year later. It was to this house that James would come home after being born a few weeks early, even if he had to spend much of his first few days on his jaundice-killing light bed. In this home, I became even more amazed with Kristine as she showed unconditional love to our first child, supported me through my master's degree at Westminster, and grew to love sewing and cooking (both of which have benefited me greatly--the latter more than the first).
After spending a few years in that perfectly odd, slightly decaying house, Kristine trusted me enough to support me in my dreams of moving to Oregon and working on my doctorate degree. Here in Oregon, I have relied on her for strength and support as I try to juggle the craziness of working full-time, working on a PhD, and trying to spend quality time with her and our handsome young boys. I continue to learn more about the intelligent and gorgeous woman that is the greatest, kindest mom to our kids; runner of triathlons; entrepreneur; everyone's favorite cook; and the most supportive wife-who knows when to give me advice and when to just quietly listen.
I look forward to seeing what the rest of forever has in store for us. All I need to know is that I will be with her and it is all thanks to that one lucky moment in which she decided that her assigned Y-group was lame and she happened upon a skinny, lanky boy that shared her love for a good fountain drink.
Happy Birthday, Kristine....
