The Smartest Thing I Ever Did

This is a post I wrote on October 28th. I didn't post it because I wanted to post pictures with it, too. Well, I still haven't had time to scan the pix and it's time to just post it and add them later.
Also, have a look at my most recent post at FRAMANISCO.

Also, I wasn't kidding about needing someone to explain to me why there are not term limits for senators. WHY? And what do you think?

Today is the sixth anniversary of our engagement. It was one month and four days after we met. Rich had planned a long-weekend trip to Montana to introduce me to his family. What I thought would happen is that (a) he’d take me to Montana to meet the folks and check out the hometown, and then, if all went well, he would ask me to marry him at the big family Thanksgiving shindig the next month in SLC. I mean, we both knew that we need look no further for our mate, we just hadn’t laid out the plan.

Let me back up and tell you that we met at my birthday party, the night before I turned 29. At that party, I received the Magnolia soundtrack, which is to this day one of my favorite CDs. So I listened to it all the time, unwittingly making it the soundtrack of our courtship. I popped it in the van the other night (the only place I really get to listen to music anymore) and took a little trip down memory lane. I remembered that I was feeling a bit like damaged goods at the time as I had just finished sorting through some emotional baggage from the previous year’s broken engagement (and subsequent dysfunctional-on-purpose dating). I just wasn’t in a “relationship place.” But of course, we don’t get to choose when life throws its curve balls, so I choked up and swung my bat, so to speak. But these lyrics from Magnolia captured the mood so well:

So don't work your stuff

Because I’ve got troubles enough

No, don't pick on me

When one act of kindness could be

Deathly

Definitely

You're on your honor

Cause I’m a goner

And you haven't even begun

So do me a favor

If I should waver

Be my savior

Get out the gun

So lah-dee-dah, I’m just enjoying my weekend in Montana when Rich suggests we take a drive on Saturday morning so he can show me around Paradise Valley. We drive around and we stop for Thomas Kemper sodas at the Pine Creek Store (a cabin, really--and I still have the soda bottles in my cupboard). Then we drive up Pine Creek road to a place where you can see all of Paradise Valley, almost to Yellowstone Park. Rich tells me he’d always thought this hill would be a great place to build a house, with this great view. I start yammering on and on about how this other spot would be even better, and I am walking over there, pointing and surveying, when I notice Rich on one knee and I freeze. What’s the first lovely, romantic thing out of my mouth? “What? Not today! What are you doing??” DUH.

So he asks and I accept, and then I put the enormous ring on my finger and say, “I can’t wear this! It’s too pretty!” Seriously—my hands are still way too not-manicured to be wearing this rock. I keep waiting for somebody to shout out, “Hey, lady, why don’t you hawk that rock for a manicure and a nice outfit?” My answer would be, “What, and then break a nail scrubbing the toilet or making dinner? And then get baby barf or toddler poo on my outfit? Why would I want to do that?” It's beautiful! I call my mom and family on the cell phone, and it turns out they knew all along! I tell them about the ring and they've already seen it (Rich emailed them a picture). How's that for being out of the loop? Rich is just grinning and glowing all day long and I can't stop looking at my finger (while enjoying a really fun day with my in-laws...the next day we went to church with them and I got a taste of what I am now a part of--the Livingston Ward Family. People were hugging me and crying and congratulating us like they were all Rich's grandma's and aunts or something).

Anyway, it was a great day and we have been so happy ever since. Each time I reflect on making that decision, I remember how easy it was, and I didn’t know the HALF of what I was getting. Each time I think about it, there are dozens of new things to add to the list of why it’s a good idea to be married to Rich.

Happy Anniversary, Hun! Thanks so much for asking and for putting up with, er, I mean, growing with me ever since that happy day.