Yearbooks, Blessed (And Cursed) Yearbooks

After writing Saturday's post and worrying that I wouldn't have any followers, and then reading Megan's comment from that post, I decided to revisit the nightmare that was high school by looking through my yearbook from my senior year. And boy, was it a bit scary to reminisce. I haven't looked at it in probably five years, maybe more.

But what I want to share today is actually pretty funny. Christian and I graduated together, in the SV class of 1994. But in order to understand what we wrote in each other's yearbooks, you have to know a little background...we pretty much hated each other the moment we first met our junior year. Fast forward to senior year, and he started dating my best friend, Heidi. I started hating him even more, because she wanted to be with HIM all of the time and therefore didn't have any time for ME anymore. Yes, I was bitter. Yes, my longtime boyfriend had broken up with me about the same time they got together. However, toward the end of our senior year, I started dating his best friend, Robert. It wasn't really serious, but it made things a little better between Heidi and I because at least we could hang out occasionally (although always as double dates). By the time we graduated, Christian was approaching engagement status with Heidi, and Robert and I were still kind of on again/off again.

So, this is what Christian wrote in my yearbook our senior year:

Erin,
You have turned out in a weird way to be a very good friend. I Love You and Heidi and I will never lose track of you. Take care, Christian

Those words caused me to think way back then. He neglected to put a comma, so I didn't know whether he meant "I love you, and Heidi and I will..." or "I love you and Heidi, and I will..." He had certainly never said he loved me before, and I was sure it was in a strictly platonic way, but it was still kind of weird, in a good way.

This is what I wrote in Christian's yearbook:

Christian,
Thanks for driving me everywhere - especially Salt Lake [oh yeah, I was in love with a guy who lived in Salt Lake at the time, and he and Heidi drove me down once to spend the day with the guy.] You are a great guy. Take care of my best friend for me. When you are married, let her go out with me and do girl things sometimes. GC [Golden Corral; don't ask] was fun, good luck at the Bluebird [restaurant]. Keep in touch! Erin

Little did I know what was in the cards for me at that time. I was so sure they would get married. Luckily for me, they didn't!

Sleep, Sleep Tonight, And May Your Dreams Be Realized

When Christian and I were married nearly 11 years ago, I decided I wanted to remember and savor every moment we had had together up to that time. So I sat down and typed up 15 pages single spaced of every detail I could remember from meeting (and hating) each other our junior year of high school until the day we were married five years later. I hadn't read it in years, but when Michelle from Scribbit chose "first kiss" as her topic for her monthly write-away contest, I decided to dig through my piles and find the story of our first kiss.

A couple of things to know as background: up to this point, we were only acquaintances/kind-of friends; he and my best friend had dated throughout our senior year of high school and broken up shortly after, and I was currently dating his best friend!

Here are my words as a 21 year old (P.S. This was our first date!):

...When we walked out of the movie theater, it was pouring rain. I was feeling bashful, because Christian had been holding my hand throughout the movie. One of the last scenes in the movie was in the rain too, and it all seemed almost perfect in my head. We were standing under the eaves of the theater when Christian asked, "Are you ready to head for the car?" Then he took my hand and we ran across the street to the car. I thought that was so sweet of him to take my hand to cross the street. I began melting at that point. Then we got in the car and he asked me where we should go next. It was about 11:30 PM, but neither of us wanted to go home yet. I thought about it and then I suggested a place up at USU where there is a pond and waterfall surrounded by a grove of trees and a pathway leading up to the Institute building. We went and parked just below the place (nicknamed the "rock gardens").

...there is a little platform of rocks just in front of the waterfall. He asked me if I would like to dance and I said sure. I asked him what music we would dance to and he asked me what I would like to hear. I told him to sing me something and he started singing. It was a song by U2 (called MLK on the Unforgettable Fire cd [the title of this post comes from that song]) and the song was about rain and thunder. He has such a beautiful voice. We were dancing in the warm rain while Christian sang to me. There were spotlights on the waterfall but they were also hitting us. I felt like we were the only two people in the world at this moment. No man had ever been so romantic to me. Then he pulled away from me a little so we could see each other's faces. We talked a little, but mostly words didn't need to be said. A couple of times he leaned toward me, and I was afraid he was going to kiss me and I was hoping he would kiss me at the same time. He just hugged me close these times. Then he looked deep into my eyes. And he kissed me. It was the softest, gentlest kiss I had ever experienced...I remember laying in my bed that night, just going over it and over it in my mind. I was dying!

Six days later, he left to go on a two year LDS mission. Eight days after he came home, we were engaged. And now, 11 years later, we have two beautiful children and we are so happy. And we have a great story to tell our kids and grandkids about our first kiss!