first comes love

had i known a year ago that i would be where i am right now, i would've laughed. 

but, here i sit; a young(ish) woman in love with the most wonderful man on earth [i realize i am biased, but i don't really care because he really is super amazing and incredible].

when i first heard about timothy lake, i was told he was from "some small town in southern utah" and was very clean. the person who was telling me this was one of the teachers i work with who is also t's landlord, and she was telling me that we needed to meet because of some epiphany she had in the temple.

and, i'm sorry to say, i totally judged him before we first spoke. to me "small town in southern utah" meant that t was a hick and that we would have absolutely nothing in common. but, after our first phone conversation, i realized how wrong i was. there was something about him that just seemed different, but i couldn't quite put my finger on it.

little did i know that that forty minute long conversation was the start of something amazing and special and life-changing.

we talked and talked for hours on the phone before we actually met in person. for those of you who know me well, this is a Big Deal. i don't like talking on the phone, especially to someone i don't know very well. but i looked forward to those conversations every day. 

as we talked and talked and talked, i was falling more and more and more in like with him.

he was [and is] interesting, clever, intelligent, well-read, and hilarious.

but i was scared at the same time.

what if he didn't feel the same way about me? 

what if i got my heart broken again?

we finally scheduled our first date and i was NERVOUS.

so nervous, in fact, that i had a friend come over and help me decide what to wear the day before.

so nervous that when i answered the door, i was speechless.

we had talked for hours and hours and i had nothing to say!

but that first date was the best first date i've ever had. 

and i knew, after that first date, that he was something special.

i first knew that i loved him the first time i went with him to castle dale to meet his family.

we were all sitting around the kitchen table playing a game, and t looked across the table at me and winked and that little gesture [which he doesn't remember] just made me fall in love with him. 

from that point on, i knew we'd be together for a long time.

maybe even forever.

and on april 6, 2013, he asked me to marry him.

i woke up that morning with a terrible migraine. we're talking, vomit-inducing, nausea-ridden misery. 

after some rest, some coke, soup, and a hot shower, i was beginning to feel human again, which was convenient because t and i had a wedding reception to go to that night.

so, i got all gussied up and headed over to t's apartment so we could drive to the reception together.

now, earlier that day, t had told me that he would be getting the ring next week and that he needed my dad's number so he could do the traditional thing and ask for my hand. i had no idea whatsoever that the ring had been delivered that morning, that he had talked to my dad later in the morning, and was planning to propose that night.

we still had some time to kill before we went to the reception, so t suggested that we watch the newest episode of "new girl." it was hilarious. again, i had no idea what was to come.

when it ended, i said i had to use the bathroom.

when i walked back into t's room, he was sitting on his bed holding a ring box. 

and, the next thing i knew, i had that ring on my finger! it was such a surreal moment and i still don't feel like it's really sunken in yet that i am really getting married.

it's crazy!

it's funny to think how much we've changed and what we've had to go through to find each other. 

and a year after that fateful first date, we will begin our forever journey together.

i can't wait to marry this man.

he is the love of my life and my very best friend.