How We (Almost Didn’t) Me(e)t:

The past couple of days I have been reading through some of our old journals. Oh man. It has been SO much fun! Last night I was reading in Spencer’s journal about our courtship and engagement and it was all oh so nostalgic. I’m so glad he wrote all about it. It was just fascinating to read the whole thing from his perspective.

All this got me thinking that I should share some of our story here, just for fun, because I don’t think I’ve ever told it before.

So. Spencer and I met while we were both students at BYU. The short version of the story is that we both were in the same student ward (the 35^thward), and I was Spencer’s family home evening Mom. We still like to joke about our “incestuous” relationship’s beginnings.

If you’d like to hear the slightly longer version, keep reading.

Looking back at our story, we have since realized that there were a few things that had to have fallen into place for us to meet or we might have missed each other.

First off, before I had ever met Spencer, I had decided to serve a mission. My original plan was to serve as soon as I turned twenty-one (this was obviously before the lowering of the age at which girls can serve). I began to get ready and was excited to move full speed ahead. However, I only had one semester left of my undergraduate work by the time I turned twenty-one. After much fasting and prayer, I decided to wait to serve a mission until after I had graduated from school. Then, the plan was to come home from my mission and begin getting my master’s degree in Family Therapy. My dad had some health challenges, and I mostly felt very strongly that I wanted to finish my undergraduate education so I could become a little more stable before serving my mission. After all, I was so close to graduating. I could wait one more semester before I left.

Had I stuck with my original plan to serve right when I turned twenty-one, I would have already been on my mission, or at least been at home in California getting ready for a mission when Spencer joined the 35^th ward. Spencer and I met only two weeks after my twenty-first birthday.

On a slight tangent…The first time we met, I was handing out fliers for a ward activity. I noticed Spencer right away and thought he was pretty cute. Spencer doesn’t actually remember this first encounter, however, so we kind of count our second meeting as our first. Our first/second meeting was at the premiere of Spiderman 3. Nearly our entire ward went, and it just so happened that Spencer and his roommate, Brandon, sat in the row behind my sister and I. To be honest, I had had a kind of crappy day and wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go to the movie. But, obviously I decided to go. When Spencer and Brandon sat down I recognized them as new in the ward and thought that the nice thing to do would be to say hi. We ended up talking for nearly an hour before the movie started and having a really good time. Spencer told Brandon after the movie that he “was going to ask that Whitney girl on a date.” Looking back, I’m glad that I was able to put aside my crappy day and try my best to be friendly. At the time, I was tempted in my sour mood to just kind of keep to myself. Had I done that, I might not have made a very good first impression.

Ok, back to the main story. So while I was deciding to postpone a mission for the time being, Spencer was deciding where to live upon coming home from his mission and returning to BYU. He had originally planned on living in Chattsworth since his family owned a condo there and most of his siblings had lived there. But two of his mission companions, whom he wanted to room with, suggested the Elms. The three of them agreed to sign contracts at the Elms, thus landing them in the 35^th ward—my ward.

True to his word to Brandon, Spencer did end up asking “That Whitney Girl” on a date (maybe more on that another post).

So there you have it.

I’m not saying that the stars had to align or that we met in the pre mortal existence or anything. But I certainly am so grateful for the way things played out.