from 3 days to 10 years

This is Jeremy and I back was I was 12… I mean 19. Actually, this picture was taken 10 years ago this very month. In honor of Valentine’s Day, and just because I don’t actually have it recorded anywhere, I thought I’d share our how we met/engagement story. It’s a pretty good one.

On September 1, 2000, I met Jeremy. My roommate, who was from Mexico (Spanish), was dating a guy from Brazil (Portuguese). They had met at the English Learning Center at BYU and so their only common language was English, one that they were both in the process of learning. She was taking the missionary discussions (she was Catholic), and happened to be having one on this day. So I sat in on it, and it is a rule that the missionaries have to have a 3rd guy with them to be able to enter a girls apartment. Jeremy had just gotten into town from Washington from his brother’s wedding and was working on his Jeep in the parking lot. The missionaries came up to him and asked if he would sit in on a discussion right now. He looked at them like they were crazy for a second, then said sure, to give him 5 minutes to wash up. And so that is how I met Jeremy. He sat across from me in my living room and stared at me for the entire discussion. That wasn’t even a little bit awkward…

So then a guy that I did like stopped by my apartment during this uncomfortable experience and asked if I wanted to hang out. YES. I did. So I went with him, and it was even more awkward. This guy took me around with him to all of these various girls’ apartments that he was interested in. Awesome. That was a good time. It made me really mad because I was supposed to be at a party for someone’s birthday that I knew from my hometown. So I had missed that, for that. So, I was pretty annoyed when I got home. My roommate Summer (a different roommate; I had 5), on the other hand, was glowing when I walked through the door. “I have a very good story about you!” um, what? What does that even mean?

Turns out that Jeremy had returned home after the discussion (we lived in the same apartment complex) raving about the hottest girl he had ever seen (that would be me…), and Summer happened to be dating Jeremy’s roommate at the time, and was there when Jeremy got home. She asked him who it was, and he didn’t know, except that I lived in apartment 15. “That’s my apartment! What was she wearing??” Jeremy informed her that I was wearing a white shirt with overalls and I had really long hair (before you jump on the overalls bandwagon, consider the date… it was 11 years ago!). “That’s Amy! and I know where she is right now!” Actually, where I was supposed to be. Next door to Jeremy’s apartment, at my friend’s birthday party. Only I wasn’t there. But Jeremy didn’t know that, and he ran next door to find me, only of course he didn’t, and came back all dejected.

So Summer and I came up with a plan to have Jeremy’s apartment over for dinner, since she was dating his roommate anyway, it seemed safe enough. So Sunday night, we had them all over, and Jeremy spent the entire time talking to my roommate Lindsey about skydiving. Guess he wasn’t that interested after all. Oh well, I tried to give him a chance.

So the next day was Labor Day, and I went hiking on Mt. Timpanogos with a group of friends. I got back at 4 in the afternoon, exhausted, and there was a message on my answering machine. A long, random, minute and a half message…. from Jeremy. Basically, it said that he and his roommates, and his sister were all going to the movies and that he wanted me to come as his date. Um… ok? So I called him back and said that sure I would go. So we went to the BYU Creamery first and got ice cream, then went to see Jackie Chan, “Shanghai Noon.” Then afterwards, he walked me to my door and asked if he could see me again. I said I guess... lol… I really wasn’t interested. I walked inside and rolled my eyes.

From that day on, he was at my apartment EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Were we dating? No. Was I interested in him? No. Could I even stand him? No. Did I make any indication that I liked him? No! In fact I was kind of mean. But he didn’t pick up on any of it. And he would get upset if any other guy would talk to me. Which annoyed me even more.

Fast forward about a month. My parents came up from California for parent’s weekend. Also because my Dad had a business meeting. I was in the BYU marching band (don’t judge me… I’m a musician! and it was awesome anyway!), so my parents came to see one of the football games and watch me in action. They took me out to dinner and I was telling them about this guy that would just not leave me alone. We had even passed him at one point, and I had said, that is the guy I was telling you about. Well my dad instantly got defensive of me when I was telling them about Jeremy when we were out to dinner. “He sounds like a stalker to me!” My dad commenced to tell me all of these self defense moves, such as keeping my keys between my fingers, etc. I had to laugh a little because, as obnoxious as Jeremy was, I knew that if I ever said anything really mean to him, he would have been totally hurt, and certainly didn’t require any self defense moves.

So that night, I went over to their apartment because Summer had told me they were all going over there to watch a movie. So I went with her. Only Jeremy wasn’t there. And for the first time ever, I cared that he wasn’t there. After a while, he did come home, and I actually wanted to talk to him. When I got home that night, I was talking to Summer in our kitchen and I just said “I’m so mad! I like Jeremy and I don’t want to!!” But I also informed her that it was really annoying because he never actually asked me out, he was just. always. there.

So the next day, I was doing something in my kitchen, and Jeremy literally runs into my apartment, totally out of breath. Summer had literally just told him that “Amy might actually be interested in you if you’d ask her out once in a while.” At that moment, he realized that he hadn’t, and RAN over to my apartment and asked me out. And because I was inexplicably interested in him, I said yes. So the next day (October 1st), we drove up to the Salt Lake Zoo, and when we were driving back, got rear-ended. We were stopped behind a long line of stopped cars and a teenage girl, who had just gotten her license a week earlier was driving home from a Dave Matthew’s concert with like 87 other teenagers in her dad’s car, not even paying a little bit of attention and full on smashed into the back of us. Coincidentally enough, the song that was on the radio was Pearl Jam’s “The Last Kiss,” where it says “the screaming tires, the busting glass…” and at that moment is when we got hit. Then right after that was “I’ve seen better days…” I just had to laugh.

So Jeremy and I spent the next 8 hours in the hospital at the ER. It was so busy. People kept coming in that were shot and other crazy things, so we let them go on ahead. After we had been checked in, two of my uncles came to check on me and give me a blessing, and next to me is this guy on a gurney in a neck brace with a severe concussion singing Jingle Bell rock. Yep, that’s the guy I’m with. lol That song has never been the same…

So the next morning, I went to church with Jeremy (we were in different wards) since his meeting time was later than mine, and we hadn’t gotten home until 4am from the hospital. And it was a fast Sunday. Jeremy got up, and still with a concussion mind you, bore his testimony. He talked all about this girl that meant so much to him and she could have died last night, etc., etc. Keep in mind that I was in no way his girlfriend yet. I was so embarrassed. I started sinking lower and lower into my chair, especially when the girls in the row in front of me were like “he has a girlfriend?? who’s his girlfriend?” and started looking around.

So later that day, he asked me to be his girlfriend, and something in me made me say yes, even though I don’t know why. Why did I start liking him? I don’t know! The only thing I can figure is that it must have been the opposition from my dad that made me realize how much Jeremy cared about me and that I was being a jerk.

Then 3 days later we were talking and we decided we wanted to get married. Yes friends, you heard me right, 3 days. How in the world could I go from despising someone to getting engaged to someone after only 3 days? The only way I can describe it is that for some reason it just made sense. As soon as we talked about getting married, it was as obvious as reading the directions on a pop-tarts box. (yes, I did just make that reference) I didn’t need some lightning bolt to tell me to remove pastry from pouch. It just made complete sense to me.

I think probably one of the main reasons I subconsciously fought against Jeremy was because I had just broken up with my boyfriend that I was in love with, only a month before I met Jeremy, and I was still getting over that. I didn’t want another relationship yet. But I had decided that the next person I would date would be someone who loved me for me and would be willing to do anything or give up anything for me. And as soon as my dad started talking about how Jeremy sounded like a stalker it occurred to me that Jeremy was that guy I had prayed for. Not only that, but God had literally delivered him to me on my doorstep. How much more of a sign do you need?? As soon as I accepted that, I fell in love with Jeremy (he was already in love with me… lol)

So the fun part… was telling my parents that I was engaged. Jeremy called and asked my dad if he could marry me. Keep in mind that my dad had just given me self-defense tips against this guy 5 days before. My dad’s only response was “I’ll call ya back.” To this day, he has not called Jeremy back on that subject. My mom called me a little bit after that, and she was always very supportive of me getting married, but the best part was half way during our conversation, she says “wait… isn’t that the stalker guy??” He is not a stalker!

Also, what was fun was that weekend informing my aunt and uncle that I was getting married to Jeremy and they were like “Isn’t that the Jingle Bell Rock guy?” Awesome.

About 11 months later, we were married on August 22, 2001. This year will be 10 years for us! Crazy! What’s really crazy, is how crazy that sounds to get engaged to someone after only 3 days. At the time, it made total sense, but as a parent, wow. I would have flipped. And imagine being my dad, and a guy that you think is a stalker calls and asks to marry your daughter?? I wouldn’t have called him back either. But 10 years and 4 kids later, we’re doing great!

Is he quirky? Yes. But he is my quirky guy. And I still love him. He who has no quirks, cast the first negative comment… lol

Happy Valentine’s Day Jeremy. I love you!