Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought this would be a good day to retell how Bill and I first met.

It was December of 1992. I was a student at BYU. I had a boyfriend named Kevin at the time. We weren't seriously dating, I should add. In fact, he had just suggested that we not be mutually exclusive (meaning, he had met a cute girl he would like to get to know without feeling like he was 'cheating' on me). I was fine with that because I wasn't looking for a serious relationship at the time, either.

Kevin and I went ice skating at Seven Peaks on a Friday night. I really enjoy ice skating, so on Saturday, I suggested to my room-mates that we should go. So, on Saturday evening, we piled into my Honda Civic and went! While skating with my room-mates that night, I noticed a really handsome man skating by himself. I mean REALLY handsome! He was thin, but well proportioned, with dark brown hair, blue eyes, and a blindingly white smile in a tanned face. His eyes twinkled when he smiled at me as he passed.

I really wanted to meet him! I couldn't think of any way except to be forward and skate up to him and strike up a conversation... which I did! I am not usually that outgoing around strangers (or, I should say, I wasn't then), but I knew that even if he thought I was a total idiot, it wasn't likely that I would ever see him again. My first words to him were, "Are you here alone?"

My room-mates were disgruntled, I think, to find that I had abandoned them for this good looking man. One of them was tired and worn out, this being her first attempt at ice skating. They wanted to go home, but I was their ride. I told Bill (because, of course, that is who the handsome man was) that I would have to go take my room-mates home and that it was nice to meet him. His response was, " can you drop them off and come back? I'll pay to get you back in if you need it."

So, I took my room-mates home and went straight back to the skating rink. They probably all thought I'd lost my mind! He was a complete stranger!

We skated for another hours or so, I can't really remember. I do remember that it was snowing heavily (it was an outdoor rink) and we couldn't see the blades of our skates because the snow was so thick on the ice. Finally, the rink management closed the rink early due to the fact that the Zamboni machine couldn't keep the ice cleared of snow. It had been so magical, though! Skating with a handsome young man through the falling snow!

When the rink closed, Bill asked if I would go to dinner with him. I agreed and climbed into his old Ford truck, leaving my Civic in the rink parking lot. Mom would have probably had a screaming fit at that! After dinner, Bill drove me back to my car, started it for me, brushed the snow off of it, and scraped the ice from the windshield so I could get back to my apartment safely.

And the rest is history!

Happy Valentine's day, everyone!!!