Has it really been 5 years??

Yesterday Eric came home from work with flowers.

It took me a second, but then I remembered it was the 5 year anniversary of the day we met! He has remembered every year. And I have forgotten every year. A little role reversal on the stereo type I think.

Here's the background of how we met: I graduated from BYU at the end of April, 2003 and I went home to stay with my parents in Bellingham while I was applying for teaching jobs. Before I left Provo a lot of people kept asking me if I was nervous to go home. For those of you who did not go to BYU (or BYUI), it can be tough to leave unmarried. The thought is that there are so many single Mormons in Provo (or Rexburg) that by going home you are much less likely to find someone to marry. For the MANY of my friends who were married before leaving Provo (or Rexburg... sorry, I don't want to be biased :-)), you might THINK you know what I'm talking about, but you really don't. Anyway, I got asked that question a lot. So much in fact that I actually thought about staying in Provo, even if just for the summer. But I felt good about going back home. I wasn't worried or nervous. I knew there would be people to meet, probably in the Seattle area since I was sure I knew what Bellingham had to offer, which wasn't much in my opinion. A few weeks after being home Eric and I met at a ward family home evening. He just got back from his mission. But don't think that he was 21, he didn't decide to go until he was 21, so he was 23 when he got back and when we met. Anyway, Eric was in Bellingham trying to find an apartment before he started work and school again. That's why he went to FHE, he hadn't even been to the ward yet. So we met, but we didn't even really talk to each other. That's the day he found his new roommates, Trevor and Drew, who I was already friends with. And the story goes from there. I didn't think I would meet my husband a few weeks after graduation. And I definitely didn't think I'd meet him in Bellingham. But I did and I've been so happy ever since.