month o' marriage

That’s right folks, I’m setting a theme for July. In my case, a theme can be a daunting thing - if past patterns of posting serve as predictions of the future, this post may be the last one for the month. But I’ve been feeling literary of late, and I’ve been thinking a bit on the subject. So, here goes. Stay with me. If you dare.

I married Clark five years ago this month. five. While I plan to be married to him forever after, this small landmark evokes a lot of feelings and reflections, and I thought I may as well share them. Of course I’m no expert on marriage, but my evolving sense of the meaning of marriage in general and my own unique relationship with my husband have been surprising, continuing sources of joy. I admit it's a little self-indulgent, but I'm starting with the story of us.

Act One, part one - "more than friends"

I met Clark when I was yet a babe. Just eighteen. Sometimes I still can’t fathom what brought me to Snow College, but I’m forever grateful that I spent my freshman year of college there – for many reasons, not the least of which is the inception of my friendship with Clark. At Snow, I lived in a dumpy apartment with three other girls, and Clark camped out with a rather hodgepodge group of boys in the next building. I worked in the campus post office and he worked at the campus radio station hosting a weekly show (among other things).

Truth be told, Clark spent the majority of his time with the three girls who lived upstairs from me, developing a crush on each of them in turn, though nothing romantic ever blossomed.

I dated a few people, but none for very long. Clark would occasionally pop into my apartment and charm my roommates and me with his disarming wit. We became friends and I may have even developed a crush on Clark's brother at some point (which I don't really remember, but there is some documentation to prove it in the e-mails Clark and I sent each other). In March of 2001, it became clear to me that I would move home and go to the U of U – a prospect I had mixed feelings about. I had come to love the tiny town and college and had scholarships for the next year and a position as the president of the dance co. But, my effervescent friend Katie was at the U, and though I didn’t know it then, we had some extraordinary times ahead of us.

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Home for the summer and outside our college social circles, Clark and I did all kinds of summer things together. When most of our mutual friends went back to school in August, we still had each other, and that fact provided some consolation for our feelings of abandonment. We were friends - the best of casual friends but often joked that we were "more than friends." I think we both knew that was really true, but, as you know, timing is everything.


Up next: Act one, part two - the Misadventures of Mormon Missionaries, starring Elder Gardner and Sister Heightman (though never in the same scene).