Our "Novel"

Tuesday, February 17th--This week marks a very special time for Nate and I. We met this week, 10 years ago. WOW! I can't believe how time flies and how life changes so fast. So here's the scoop:

My sister, Amanda, had moved down to Ogden to be with her fiance, Ben, 6 months earlier. She had met a few people on various chat lines on AOL. She met Nate on an LDS chat line, they became quick friends through laughing at joking about many of the ridiculous conversations going on. She and I would always send each other "forwards" and emails to keep in touch. Many of the "forwards" I recognized the other friends/family she sent them to as well but after a few months of living in Utah, she was meeting new people and sending these forwards to them too. Well, with AOL you can set up a profile that allows fellow AOL users to "check you out". So, of course, being the nosey sister, I wanted to see who these new friends were Amanda was chatting with. I came across Nate's profile and absolutely loved what I read. So I asked Amanda about him. Her first response, "Trust me, he's NOT your type!" And truth be told, he wasn't, at first, but then I realized my "type" was the wrong type for me and he WAS the right type! I asked Amanda if Nate would be interested in chatting with me and so she asked him and he said, "Sure." **note: I was NEVER the one to make a first move so it was weird to me I felt comfortable asking.** We chatted for 2 hours! The list of things we had in common were incredible! We met in person 3 weeks later at Amanda and Ben's wedding, in Salt Lake. We went on two dates while I was visiting and by the time I was on the road back home to Silverdale, WA, I realized I was hooked. I checked email when I got home and he had sent the sweetest email. He was hooked too! YES! So, this binder, this incredibly THICK binder, is most of the emails we wrote to each other over the next 6 months, before I moved to Salt Lake to be with Nate for good. We also talked on the phone all the time and I was able to fly down to Salt Lake twice to spend weekends with him and, the second time, meet his family. It's amazing to read them and see how our relationship evolved from an initial interest to a passionate love that is eternal. We knew we wanted to marry each other quite quickly into the relationship but decided to get to know each other and be absolutely sure. Once I was moved to Salt Lake we got engaged and married six months later on March, 10, 2000, in the Salt Lake Temple, 13 months after we met.

I'm so thankful Nate felt the need to save all of the emails and print them up to put in this binder. He did it without me knowing so it was a very sweet surprise when he presented it to me shortly after I moved to Salt Lake. I've enjoyed re-reading all the emails the past couple of weeks. It's brought back so many wonderful memories and insights we shared with each other. For two very shy people, we were open books to one another, something that never ceased to amaze me.

It's been a great and challenging 10 years. I don't think I could have made a better choice in my eternal companion. He's everything to me. We've been through hard times and always seem to come out stronger and more in love with each other. Our relationship still continues to evolve and I'm thankful for that but also thankful to reflect and find that the reasons I first fell in love with Nate are still the same reasons. We are truly blessed! So much has happened in 10 years, SO MUCH, and here's to many more years of happiness, passion, friendship, and true love. In my Valentine's card from Nate, he commented that I am his hero. I feel the same for him, he is my hero and so much more. I love you, Nate, always and forever!

**P.S.---this novel is not available to the public! ; )