That was the first time I saw Julia. I had been home from my mission less than a month and one of my old high school friends decided to set me up with this girl whose family had moved into her ward a year prior. The Bradley family. I had just kinda broken up with the girl I was writing on my mission, so I was all for getting set up (probably the only time in my life I was cool with getting set up on a date). So the night of the date comes, I show up to the Bradley residence, and pick up my date… Patty. Did I get ya? Haha. My friend set me up with Julia’s older sister, and at that time I didn’t even know Julia existed. But when I was picking up Patty, I remember specifically looking upstairs and seeing Julia getting ready to hit the town. I also remember specifically the thoughts I had when I saw her: “Wow, she’s cute.”

Patty and I never went out again, but Julia moved into my ward on campus and thanks to a couple guys who wouldn’t do their home teaching it fell upon me to visit her. We were always friends, and even went on a date every 3-6 months for the next couple years. We never kissed, never felt an awkward sense of obligation to spend time together, never had bad experiences with each other. It was just always a nice treat to see one another. Our relationship was ultra-casual.

Jules says that she liked me a lot, but if she did, man she played it super cool. I liked her too, but the timing was always off; especially when she came to visit me at work one day, breaking the news that she had received her mission call and would be leaving on her mission within a couple months. I was genuinely excited for her, congratulated her, and that was that.

Long story long, she went on her mission and I started dating a super nice girl who was a lot of fun and seemed to hit every mark on my checklist. I received a couple letters from Jules but out of some sense of obligation to my current girlfriend I didn’t reply. But truth be told, I could not stop thinking about Jules for the life of me. I broke up with the girl I was dating and spent a couple months sulking. Then one fateful day I sent Jules a letter. Then another. Pretty soon it was every week, and just before Christmas 2007 I told her I had fallen for her and needed to say it before I exploded. She reciprocated my feelings and we wrote every week for 7 months until she came home July 7^th 2008 (which also happens to be the day of our first kiss-waste no time).

I love my wife. She makes me so happy and is so good at enjoying life, whatever it brings. Being married and so in love is awesome, isn’t it?

The last two years have honestly been the BEST of my entire life. Chris makes me laugh every day. He is really supportive and so helpful. He works hard to provide for us and then comes home and makes dinner and “takes care of his babe.” Always. So even though we are away from each other, I know it is because he is taking care of Greta and I. And when he gets back, we’re planning on celebrating big time! ….Vegas style :)