Has It Only Been 17 Years?

Engagement photo, June 1994

Seventeen years ago today, Scott and I embarked on the comedy of errors that has been our marriage. I use the word "errors" in the Bob Ross sense, harking back to his famous quote, "there are no mistakes, just happy little accidents." I'm pretty sure marrying Scott was neither error nor accident, but we've had plenty of comedy. And a few (at least 2 for certain) happy little accidents.

Scott and I  had never met, but we were both finishing up LDS missions in Japan (Scott was in Hokkaido, I was in Okinawa) during the summer of 1993. Scott had been at BYU prior to his mission, but wasn't going to return in time for the beginning of the BYU fall semester. I had been trying to transfer to BYU but missed the deadline. We both ended up registering for fall at the University of Utah.

One of the classes I registered for was a Japanese calligraphy class, specially designed for students with spoken Japanese but less reading/writing experience (read "LDS returned missionaries"). On the first day of class I arrived early and was pleasantly surprised to find a few familiar faces. We sat and visited until our instructor, Tamanaha Sensei, entered the room and began first-day formalities.

Roll had been called and books cracked open when a blatantly tardy but extremely cute guy walked into the room and took the last seat. I made a mental note to meet this guy at my next convenience.

The next day I was on campus with a little extra time to kill before Japanese class, so I found a spot where I could pull my book out and study. Confused by a couple of elements in the chapter, I looked up from my book and noticed another student, the same book held up to his face, sitting only about 15 feet away from me. Without much thought I hopped up and walked over to get another perspective.

September 17, 1994, Los Angeles LDS Temple

"You must be in my class" I called ahead of myself as I strolled over, and the book lowered to reveal Extremely Cute Blatantly Tardy Guy. 

Then Scott walked by and tripped over his own shoelaces. Just kidding. Scott was indeed, Extremely Cute Blatantly Tardy Guy (and pretty much still is, bless his heart).

The rest, as they say, resulted in 17 years of our Japanese skills paying off when we wanted to talk about people behind their backs and keep secrets from the kids.

We were young when we started out, so we've really grown together and shared many of life's significant experiences. Our "happily ever after" has had a few not-so-happy moments and occasionally colorful language, but I firmly believe, as I've told Scott many times, marrying him was the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm looking forward to the next 17 years. I love you, Smoochy!