I am really enjoying writing these. I think I might see if I can get Bryce to write the same series. I think the kids should know all these things about him, too!

Today’s prompt:

Describe Your Relationship With Your Spouse

Bryce and I have been married for 9 years now and I count myself among the very lucky. It was never really my plan to get married young. I skipped 12th grade and started at BYU when I was 16. I dated a bit, had a couple of boyfriends, but nothing too serious. And then in the fall of 2002, one year after I started college, I met Bryce. It was time for the annual Preference dance at BYU. This is a Sadie Hawkins kind of dance, where the girls are expected to invite the boys. I asked some of the girls in my dorm for date suggestions and some of them said I should ask Bryce, this really cute guy in their Family Home Evening group. We were in the same ward, but, to be honest, I hadn’t really noticed Bryce yet. He claims he noticed me from the start. I think Bryce was shocked that I asked him, but he said yes and it was set. Being the planner that I am, I suggested that we do lunch together before the big date just to get to know each other a bit before we went out. So, in the glamorous Cougareat Food Court on campus, we had lunch and chatted. Bryce told me later that he was so nervous his jaw was shaking. I didn’t notice. We discovered that we’d both lived in El Salvador (me for almost 7 years as a child and Bryce as a missionary)–small world! From there, we just kept connecting. And when we got to the actual date, it was by far the best first date I’d ever been on. It seemed like we just connected from the very beginning. It was never awkward. We understood each other and had such a fun time together. It was so comfortable and a very pleasant surprise.

I think I definitely took some of the reigns in the beginning. I asked him out, I’m the one that got us holding hands a couple weeks later, and 5 months into our relationship, I convinced him that it was time for our first kiss. Neither one of us had kissed anyone before, so this was a big (big!) deal! I was so impatient to be kissed by him and it wasn’t happening! So, one night on the stoop outside my dorm, I teased him by calling him “chicken.” He quoted Back to the Future and said, “Nobody calls me chicken!” And then we kissed. It wasn’t a great kiss–I mean, we had zero experience–but it was perfect all the same. A little over a year after we started dating, Bryce flew out to North Carolina and proposed to me. On April 24, 2004, we were married and sealed together in the Salt Lake City temple.

And that’s how I ended up getting married at 19.

On our wedding day.

So, how to describe our relationship? Well, I think Bryce and I work very well together. Where I tend to make decisions quickly, sometimes too hastily, Bryce always takes his time. Where he might move too slow, I’m there to encourage him along. We make each other laugh and I think we’re learning that it’s better to laugh than to cry sometimes. We support each other in everything we do. When I decided to pursue my master’s degree, Bryce backed me 100%. When Bryce decided to quit his job and try working from home, I trusted him and encouraged him. When I chose to birth naturally, Bryce never doubted my strength and was there every step (and contraction) of the way. When Bryce wanted to run a marathon, I cheered him on and made it possible for him to train. I could go on and on. Supporting each other is a very important part of our marriage. We are the best of friends. He is my favorite person in the world and I’m pretty sure that I am his. At the end of a hard day, we take comfort in being together. And we know that no matter what life throws at us, we will make it because we have each other. We know that we are in this for the long haul (an eternal long haul, in fact) and that means that we are committed to each other and to our family. We are kind to each other. I think this is so important. We try our best to speak kind words, to forgive each other when we make mistakes, to see the best in our partner. I would say that our relationship is a peaceful one. It is a safe place. It is my glimpse of what heaven will be like and I am so very very glad that I get to walk through this life, and all time and eternity, with Bryce by my side.

One of my favorite pieces of poetry by Yeats sums it up for me:

“Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

We have spread our dreams and do our best to tread softly and treat each other with love.