For the benefit of xhenli, who asked so nicely. :D  Here is my husband and I's "how we met and got engaged" story.  For occuring in such a brief period of time it's rather long, so sit back and get comfortable!

The Beginning: October 2001

DH and I first “met” online at LDSChat. A chat room for, you guessed it, LDS (Mormon) people. His screen name was Tolkein, mine was Xuzi. He private messaged me, and we had a nice conversation and exchanged e-mails. We both added each other to our MSN Messengers. We continued talking fairly regularly, maybe every two to three days. We were both living in Utah at the time, just 20 minutes apart, and were going to the same college, Utah Valley State College, which was in the town between us. On Monday, October 22nd, 2001, when I was 19 and DH was 25, the ball got rolling.

There was to be a Guy-ask-Girl dance at my school that Friday night. I had NEVER been on a date to a guy ask girl dance! (I’d gone to the Prom my Sophomore year of HS, but it was with a guy as “just friends”) I started dropping hints to DH about how much I LOVED dancing. He asked me if I was going to the dance that Friday, and I said no, because no guy had asked me yet
 DH didn’t notice the not-to-sly hint and continued talking about school and such. I asked him if he liked dancing too, and he said not really. I said again how much I loved dancing, and would love to go to the dance that Friday, if I only had a date. DH once again didn’t get it. After my **FOURTH** hint regarding the dance, DH said “Did you want to go to the dance with me?” I said “Do you want to go?” he said “I guess, if you really want to go
” We both agreed that we should meet in person some time BEFORE the actual date, so we agreed to meet that Wednesday at noon, when we both got out from out classes.

October 24th. The first meeting went pretty well. I was reading my favorite book “The Princess Bride” in one of the student lounges. DH came up to me and asked if I was “Xuzi” and I said yes. He sat down on a couch next to mine, and we chatted for about 2 hours. It was a really nice conversation! That very first day we started what has become our “family tradition” of going thrift shopping. There was a Deseret Industries thrift store not far from the campus, and we both went there and bought some stuff. We still love going to DI together to get “new” clothes for really cheap. I remember holding his jacket for him for a little while, and noticing the sideview of his face. I *really* didn’t like his chin! Before we both went home we agreed on a time for DH to pick me up for our date and we exchanged phone numbers.

October 26th. DH picked me up at 6pm wearing a black shirt, black slacks and a black and silver tie. I was wearing my black and silver dress (we’d arranged this). DH was also wearing contacts instead of his glasses, and was clean shaven. Not a good look for him. I remember when I first saw him at the door, thinking to myself “Well, it’s too late now.” DH also had a single red rose! That freaked me out a bit! A RED rose on a FIRST date?? I was worried that “this boy” was going to push the relationship forward a bit faster than I wanted to go. That was proved to be a rather ironic thought.

The date was WONDERFUL, except for my constant nagging worry that I might be “leading him on”. We had dinner at The China Lily restaurant. DH had General Tsao’s Chicken, and I had Orange Chicken (we make this for dinner on our dating anniversary). We talked the whole time, without any awkward pauses, or saying of stupid things. There was a bookstore across from the restaurant, and since I’d spoken so highly of the book “The Princess Bride”, DH said he wanted to buy himself a copy. We still have that copy of the book, with the receipt inside dated the evening of our first date.  The dance was also great. We had our picture taken (though I had no intention at the time of keeping the picture) and I also met one of DH’s younger sisters who was also there at the dance. At the beginning we danced fairly far apart. By the end of the evening we were cheek to cheek. DH was a complete gentleman, opening doors for me and pulling out chairs for me to sit on.

When we got back to my sister’s house (where I was living at the time) DH surprised me with a rented copy of the MOVIE “The Princess Bride”! DH put his arm around me and I held his hand while we watched the movie.

As sweet as the evening had been, though, at the end of the evening when we said good night at the front door we had VERY different thoughts. DH was thinking “Wow, I really like this girl” I was thinking “I don’t think I’ll be going on another date with this guy” Remember, I was still a bit freaked out by the single RED rose. (which I also still have BTW)

October 27th. Thinking he’d made a huge success of the previous night’s date, DH asked me online to go to a Halloween party with him later that week. I knew his intentions and said “I’m really not looking for anything serious right now,” And I wasn’t. I had had a REALLY bad experience just a few weeks previous, and didn’t want to date anyone seriously for a while. DH says when I told him that he felt sort of sick to his stomach, like he knew it wasn’t right. He “moped” the rest of the day, and that night said a prayer basically asking God if he could spend some more time with me, but if not he would be thankful for the time he had been given. Awwwwww!!!

October 28th. I had the suspicion that DH wasn’t taking my “no” very well, I offered to meet him that evening at a Church activity being held on the college campus, just so that I could at least tell him in person that I just wanted to be friends. DH agreed. About an hour before we were to meet at the campus an old friend of mine from California who was also living in Utah at the time called me up and asked me if I would go with HIM to a different Church activity 30 minutes away. I got the evilest idea I think I’d ever gotten in my entire life. I would go with my friend to the other activity and “ditch” DH! My twisted thinking was that this would finally get the “hint” across to him that I didn’t want to date him. I was so evil!

But of course, with a little bit of evil comes a whole lot of guilt! I didn’t enjoy my time with my other friend AT ALL! I kept thinking about DH and hoping that maybe he would forget that we had arranged to meet, and praying to God that he would forgive me for the cruel trick I had played on DH.

When I got home I immediately logged onto MSN and *thankfully* DH was online! I apologized profusely and told him I would make it up to him by meeting him on campus the next day after classes. DH kept his council at that time and didn’t tell me that *he* hadn’t made it either, because he’d been held up at a surprise “going away” party for a very good friend of his who was moving to Chicago. He’d had no idea I’d stood him up. Providence deffinatly stepped in to get us together. If either one of us HAD made it to the activity, there would have been hurt feelings, and Monday’s meeting would not have happened.

October 29th. We met again on Campus, and this time moved from the student lobby out to one of the grassy areas on campus. DH had his copy of the Princess Bride, and we sat on the grass reading it out loud to each other. I even let DH put his arm around me as we read. During his turn to read I re-examined DH and decided he wasn’t such a bad case after all. : After we’d read a chapter we were both quiet, and just relaxed in the sun for a while. I gradually started to shift under DH’s arms until our heads were closer, and then I said “You know what, I think I am ready to date seriously” and then we shared our FIRST KISS!! He then walked me out to my car and we held hands the whole way. The last time I’d held hands with a guy I’d been more concerned with “proving” to other people that I COULD get a guy to be interested in me (I had some self-esteem issues). When I walked across campus holding DH’s hand I wasn’t thinking about anybody else. I felt “whole”, like there had been something missing my entire life that I hadn’t noticed wasn’t there until it suddenly was. (did you catch that? )

October 30th. While chatting online again I asked DH “So how do you feel about me?” His reply was cute: “I guess I kind of have strong feelings for you, sort of
” I said “You can just say it,” then he said “I love you Jenamarie!” and I said it back.

October 31th. While again cuddling in one of the campus’s grassy areas, there was a pause in the conversation. I had my head in DH’s lap and I looked up at him and asked what he was thinking about. His reply: “I’ve just been thinking about what it would be like to be married to you” And why didn’t I run away at this point? Because as soon as I’d asked the “what are you thinking?” question I surprised myself with the thought: “I hope he’s been thinking about marriage!” I told him I’d been thinking about it to (about 3 seconds previously, but he didn’t need to know that!) but that it was “too soon” to be discussing it seriously, and that we should wait until we’d been dating a few months before we discussed it again. He agreed. That resolution only lased about 8 hours though.

That evening I received a rather disturbing e-mail from a then-bestfriend of mine (now ex-bestfriend) and as soon as I got offline from reading it DH called and said he’d felt I needed somebody to talk to. Good timing! He could tell I was really upset about the e-mail, so we agreed to meet that night on campus again so that we could talk about it for a bit before I went to an activity I’d planned to attend. I brought a copy of the e-mail, and we again met up in the student lobby. We talked for a while there, and DH made me feel MUCH better. We then decided that I would skip my activity and go to Squaw Peak, a local “look-out” spot. (this would be my first time there) The view of Utah Valley was *amazing* from up there! And that was where we had our first real “heart to heart” talk, sharing intimate (and painful) experiences from our lives, both laughing and crying, and of course, marriage came up. We agreed to spend the next day fasting and praying about whether or not we should be married. While listening to the car radio on the way down the hill the Enrique Inglesias song “Hero” played. It was the first time either of us had heard it, and the line “I can be your hero baby, I can kiss away your pain” struck us both as fitting for the experience we’d just shared. It became “our”song because every time we hear it we’re reminded of that wonderful night on Squaw Peak.

November 1st. We fasted and prayed separately in the morning, then in the afternoon met (guess where?) in the student lobby. I had been avoiding reading or thinking about Marriage, because of the twisted logic I had at the time that if I were concentrating too much on Marriage God wouldn’t be able to give me His answer to my prayer, because I would be too occupied with my own desires. DH was nonchalantly reading Bible versus about Marriage when I met up with him. As we cuddled on the couch a sudden warm feeling washed over me, and I looked at DH, who was still reading, and felt the most incredible sense of love I had ever felt before. I immediately recognized this as one of those “once in a life time, so you’d better remember it” moments, and I pressed the proverbial “record” button, and got DH’s attention. I said “You know what? I think we should get married,” I have normally have a *terrible* memory, but I can still see DH’s reaction to that sentence as if it had just happened a few seconds ago.

November 2nd. On what was our (finally) second date, we went ring shopping, and bought the rings we are both wearing today. A week to the day of our very first date.

Fast forward to May 10th, 2002, and we were Sealed for Time and All Eternity in the Oakland, CA Temple.  The third generation in my family (and the third child in my immediate family) to do so. :)

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