Giggling Like a Tween

Since I got drug tested Tuesday, we ate poppy seed chicken for dinner yesterday :)

Last night, penny slept in her own room...well at least for a couple of hours. Dave and I were so happy at the option of being loud that we ended up staying up late giggling like school girls at a sleepover.

It began as a confession. I'm a horrible liar and Dave could tell I was hiding something. Well, it's even harder to hide something when you have a shopping bag of things even though you were supposed to be at a church activity all evening. We began laughing so hard because he said that he's always trying to get me to buy things for myself and I felt so guilty because I thought he wanted me to stay for the "will" writing lesson.

Somehow it turned into reminiscing over our first flutterings of attraction towards each other. We admitted to truths that we were too embarrassed to think about before. How we felt when our hug was sabotaged, that my heart skipped a beat when he strolled up to the camp fire, how he texted to see if I were an activity before he made an appearance, how I thought about him while I was on dates with others and gradually stopped trying on those dates. Overall, I married the right guy. We have mutually cared about each other since the first day we met.

UnSpoken

There are so many times where I feel that I should've said something but I stopped myself. At times, I am grateful. For the few times I felt "brave" enough to spit out the truth, I have many regrets of the path it lead. But then there were the other times when the truth spoken in the wrong moment felt liberating.

I asked, "did you kiss her tonight?"
Chris said, "Let me explain..."
"I don't want an explanation, I just want an answer to the question."
"...yes."
"Then, we are done. You knew that this would be the result."

I walked out the backdoor of my home, leaving the 30 guests who were playing games at the party I organized and I ran. I don't know how long I was gone but I was gone long enough to know it was the right thing to break up with someone who doesn't respect me. As I walked back, I could see him on my front lawn in the swing and I hesitated at returning but I breathed in my courage and took the steps forward to his side.

He cried. It was ugly. I thought men didn't cry because they thought it wasn't manly but maybe it's because they aren't good at it. He begged for another chance. I simply reminded him this was already his second chance, she was my best friend (or so I thought) and the truth: I had lost all attraction to him the moment he cheated. I couldn't deny it. I wasn't angry or sad or worried I'd never find another. I simply lost interest.


David wasn't like the other boys. He focused on one girl at a time. It was new.

I didn't know there were people in the world like him. He wasn't interested in women that juggled a variety of men. Yet, somehow all I had known were guys who bragged about all of the mistakes they made so I thought that was the cool thing to do. I still don't know why Dave took a liking to me. We had conversations I actually looked forward to. He would keep his distance when he was dating other women. He became my best friend when I thought all of my other friends had forgotten me (or were stuck in Korea.) I loved him before we even dated, before our feet touched, before we kissed, before our elbows touched in the movie theater, before all of it I loved the person he was. Slowly, I fell in love with him as well and knew he was the best decision I ever met.

Cute-Meets

Dave and I met three years ago today.

Huzzah!

Sometimes People Meet

Dave and I first met at a Latin dance but it's always hard to explain since by then, I had already accepted him as a future friend. I had heard about "Dave" way before we actually met from all of the friends I grew up with. To my friends, I guess he was a pretty big deal.

The things I do remember from the latin dance night:

• I wore purple.
• I had come back from my freshmen ward to chill with my home-ward peeps and Dave was among them.
• I'm pretty sure he informed me that the date I had (who told me he was leaving) actually didn't leave and that I was a bad date. I probably gave Dave a weird look. 
• Dave and I did the chicken dance together.
• I asked his name by the snacks.
• He offered me his chair but I declined because I had a stuffy nose and decided to go home.

Next significant moment:

• Doug invited me to his band's practice to watch (lol I don't know why I was invited to watch)
• Dave was supposed to be the singer
• Dave decided not to show up and so nobody showed up
• They never actually made the band
• I couldn't remember him very well from the dance so i kept wondering "Who is this Dave guy?"

Next encounter:

• I knew Dave's brother Seth before I knew Dave (they don't look anything alike) and Seth was going to teach us how to make bread for FHE. My bread didn't rise btw.
• Dave kept making snarky remarks to Seth and I was not okay with this stranger being so rude. So I spoke up.
• Then I found out they were brothers but I didn't believe them.
• I thought Dave did not like me what-so-ever and I did not know what to think of him.

I except all of these encounters as our first meeting.

Mind you, this is when Dave was a tough guy a.k.a. too cool. Dave did not move from this stage in my mind for a while. In the beginning, he asked me if I had ever met a black person, he thought he had better heel clicks than I and he used "scrupulous" as a hangman word. Punk. Though, I was probably super sassy to him too.

It wasn't until Interventions that I saw how ridiculous Dave truly was.

A First Kiss and a Reminisce

So, Yesterday marked the day that Dave and I  secured our like-age of each other. In our Bishop/Brother in law's basement July 29, 2009 Dave pulled the pillow I was attached to and our lips met each other.

So in celebration, Dave and I relived a bit of that enchanted evening by me creaming him in Zilch and then watching Flushed Away. 

Since I was so distracted the first time we tried to watch the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I indeed think it is quite funny.

See here:

EB3 R.I.P.

Once in a lifetime opportunity. Over? Really?

April is all about change. Hard, cry-over, discouraging change.  This was the best thing that happened to me. The minute I stepped in that room the first time I knew I needed to stay. The East Bay Third ward was a very unique singles ward for our church, it was part deaf, part spanish, part native american and the rest of us. I have grown so much in the last three years. During this time I've had many: heartbreaks, triumphs, I fell madly in love here, I felt true anguish here, I had a few near death experiences and the deepest bonds of friendship. Seeing the end is just about devastating. Yet, there must be some good from it. My theme for a month now has been "stop thinking about what you'll miss, focus on what you'll gain." Hard but wise counsel, that hopefully someday will click.

 One of the first activities of EB3

 Those first volleyball nights

Summer nights that never ended

 birthday parties

 A decision to return to EB3

 A decision for Dave to return

 A number of friends

 A secret lover

 A few inside jokes

 Game nights, forts...

BBQ's and new faces

Some hard times

Some floating moments

 Fun get-togethers

 Loving friends

 Hilarity at it's finest

Some best times...

"I have been changed for good."

Surprise!

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