It’s been said about many romances in books, my own included, that the love just happens too fast. That’s it’s not believable or realistic. That love just doesn’t develop that quickly. And sometimes it’s true. Sometimes you just say “come on…”. But I want to tell you a story that proves that sometimes it does just happen that fast.
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I met my husband Justin when I was 18. Just 22 days after I turned 18 to be exact. He was 22 at the time. I had just graduated from high school a few months before and the world was waiting for me to take it over! I’m not super proud to say that we met through MySpace (back in the day when it was booming) in a roundabout way. We talked online one morning for about 3 hours. I wish I had saved that conversation somewhere, we talked about some really interesting stuff (and I don’t mean that in a sarcastic, bad way…). I was supposed to go out with a different guy that night but my previous date with him had been bad, and I mean bad in the way where I was actually scared to go out with him again. Justin talked me out of going out with that guy and going out with him instead.
He picked me up later that evening and we went out for dinner and a movie. As we were going through the day I just kept thinking “wow, something feels… different, about this guy”. Justin was the first guy I ever kissed on a first date. And he even had me home by 11:00 pm.
We went out the very next day. And the day after that, and the day after that. Within a few weeks we were already talking about getting married. Our lives changed for each other drastically, fast. We moved, one of us switched universities just days before school started. And within 7 weeks of us talking/meeting for the very first time, Justin asked me to marry him, and I said yes without any hesitation. He also had one heck of a ring for me ; )
Things were crazy for the next few months. We were both going to school full time, both working graveyard shifts full time, and planning a wedding. And then not long after we got engaged, I got the bomb dropped on me that my parents were finally getting a divorce. Despite knowing it was coming for a long time, it was still hard to take. Justin held me that entire night after I found out while I bawled my eyes out.
On December 28, 2005, Justin and I were married in the Manti, Utah Temple (for more info check out www.lds.org). Just 17 weeks after we had met. Justin and I went 5 ½ years of seeing each other every single day until our daughter spent a week in the hospital and we had to switch every few days so one of us could be at home with our son. We’ve had maybe 3 or 4 fights since that very first day. We balance each other out, despite being very different types of people.
Sometimes love does happen that fast. It’s not often and sometimes it dies out just as quickly as it formed. But that kind of love does exist.
And I’m living out my own love story.
