How we met and why we have 2 anniversaries

December is Jared and I's anniversary month. Not our wedding anniversary, our sealing anniversary. We have 2. This is why:

Jared and I met working at Chili's in Tempe, AZ. The one on Mill Ave. I was living in Tempe and going to ASU. Jared had moved to Arizona from Kansas for a change of pace a few months earlier. I liked him immediately, but not really in a romantic way, more of a best friend way. He was funny, honest, and kind.

We became friends. I was a hostess, he a server. He would come up to the hostess desk and say things in true Jared style like "who's the hostess with the most-ess?" or "hello, ho-stesses" or else he would complain about me seating families with kids in his section. Ha. It was then that I noticed his strut. He has a strut, a certain swagger when he walks. I thought it was pretty cute.

One day, while both working double shifts, he asked if I wanted to go to a little place called Four Peaks Brewery for lunch. I said yes, and we hopped in his little green ford Ranger (the one with no A/C) and drove over. He ordered some vegetarian food and a beer, an oatmeal stout, to be exact. I ordered a turkey sandwich. (i was pre-vegetarian, then.) He asked why I didn't order a beer, I said I don't drink. He thought I was crazy. I asked him if it tasted like oatmeal. He said no, I thought that was dumb that it didn't taste like oatmeal.

Another day, we were working as usual, he came up to the hostess desk and asked me why I didn't swear. I said I just don't. I, at this point, was feeling a little (okay, a lot) like a prude. And by then I should have been used to feeling this way. I was a mormon in art school, after all. He said something to the extent that swearing would make me stand out and be unique. I said that not swearing already did that.

He kept hanging out with me. I was surprised, since most boys gave up after finding out I was not going to sleep/drink/smoke/curse with them. We started hanging out more and more, we eventually started dating. We watched the fireworks together on the fourth of july atop A mountain. I loved being with him. I felt comfortable with him, laughed with him, enjoyed getting to know him.

We kissed for the first time. I was captivated by his beautiful big green eyes. I melted when he said I was beautiful for the first time. I loved finding the cd's he made for me on my car windshield. (IRLS, aka indie rock love songs, still my favorite mix cd) I loved the way he tucked my unruly curls behind my ears. I invited him to church with me. I was disappointed when he seemed unimpressed. I later learned this is just Jared's style. But at the time, I was disheartened. I took him with me to the Temple one Sunday, the missionaries jumped on the chance to come visit him. He liked the discussions and said he felt the Spirit. He said that after the missionaries left his apartment, he felt something good leave with them. He gave up drinking (and other extra-curricular activities) cold turkey. That was HUGE. I was seriously impressed. But he still was not interested in getting baptized. I realized I needed to make a decision because I was getting too attached to him, too close to him. He told me that he loved me and I sat silent, scared to death that I felt the same way. I wanted out before it got too hard to get out. So I did what any good mormon girl would do. I broke up with him.

But it broke my heart. I felt awful, bad, horrible. Like I had made the worst decision of my life. I kept seeing signs everywhere that reminded me of him. I think the break-up lasted 2 or 3 days before I told him I didn't want to be broken up anymore. But I also told him how important being married in the Temple was to me. I wanted to be married forever, not till death do us part. I didn't want to raise children in a home where one parent went to church and one didn't. But mostly, I wanted to be able to share with him the peace and joy that comes from the gospel.

So, we continued dating. He kept taking the discussions and developed a beautiful testimony. He got baptized, my father baptized him. He received the Priesthood. He asked me to marry him. (and that's a whole other story). We got civilly married first, in march 2002. It was beautiful, romantic, and I loved walking down the aisle. We had to wait a little more than a year from his Baptism date before we could be sealed. But it made it all the more special. It was a beautiful, simple, joyous day for both of us. And feeling the difference between the civil ceremony and the Sealing was just amazing. It sealed my testimony as well.

So that is why we have 2 anniversaries. Our Sealing anniversary (on December 21st) we keep simple, and I like it that way. It is more special to me than our wedding anniversary, it is by far my most special and favorite day of the year.