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| Newly Minted J |
Twenty years. In one way it seems like such a long time and
in another only a blip. I recall a visit
from my sister Joanna in the summer of 1994.
She stayed for about a week as I recall. During that visit she, Jennifer and I went to
Sea World together (I still have the keychain with our picture in the little
viewfinder; I wish I could retrieve it and post it J). Later on, before her visit ended, I confided
in Joanna and told her that I planned to ask Jennifer to marry me. I showed Jo the ring I had picked out and
told her I didn’t know when it would happen, but I planned to “pop the
question” soon.
Jump ahead about a month or so
(strangely, neither Jen nor I can remember the date—although I think it was in
August). The time had arrived; I could
feel it. After attending Church (Jen was
investigating at the time and had started taking the missionary
discussions—merely a formality since she had been asking me many questions by
then and I had informally taught her many of the principles J), I
told her I wanted to visit the Los Angeles Temple. We had visited several times by then. The first time I took her to the temple was a
significant event. At the time, she was
still in her “don’t talk to me about the Church unless I ask the questions”
mode. We walked the grounds and then I
asked her if she would like to go inside the visitor’s center; she said she
would. At the front door, we were met by
an inspired sister missionary (I wish I could remember her name) who took her
in tow and showed us the video Together Forever and one or two other
videos. But the first one was the one
that really touched Jennifer and opened her up to where she began asking
questions in earnest.
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| Los Angeles Temple from the Proposal Tree |
I had picked out the place for
my proposal probably about 9 months to a year earlier. At that time, I had gone to the LA Temple,
but did not go inside. Instead, I walked
the grounds and thought about things. I
ended up sitting on the concrete wall along the walkway below the fountain area on
the west side of the temple grounds. I
had a long talk with Heavenly Father there that had put me on the path to
prepare me for the moment when my relationship with Jennifer changed from one
of friendship to one that considered long term commitment. At the time, I didn’t know I would be asking
her to marry me, but that moment then had led me to this one. That wall; that specific spot had major
significance for me. But a minor problem
arose when I brought Jennifer there. At
that time, there were no shrubs along the top of the wall, the areas
surrounding the fountain on the south side were nice, small patches of
manicured lawn and another couple was having a picnic on the grass above my
“proposal spot.” I had the ring in my
pocket and the question dancing on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t want an
audience. I figured that the couple’s
picnic might have been close to ending, so I led Jennifer down the stairs to
that concrete wall, but sat down a little south of where I wanted to ask her my
question under the olive tree. Once there, I started up a
conversation with her while I waited for the picnic to end and the other couple
to leave.
I waited and I waited and I
waited some more; but the couple wouldn’t go away! Good
grief! I thought, How long is this
picnic going to last? My natural man
wanted to grab pebbles from the planter area and throw them at the
couple, but then Jennifer would have thought I’d lost my mind. I continued to wait. One hour, two, three—finally, they got up,
cleaned up their things and left.
Hooray! I had been desperately
thinking of new topics to keep our conversation going and I think I was
close to running out of things to say. Now, I was
very nervous and a bit self-conscious. I
was still going to go through with my plan, but the wait had curled my toes a
bit. When I suggested that we move a bit
to the left (in order to be perfectly positioned in the right spot), my voice was
in danger of deserting me. I think I
kept up with the conversation topic we were on for a bit longer to see if I
could build some momentum and then with a smooth transition (at least I thought so), I plunged into my proposal.
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| Proposal Tree (Wedding Day) |
Fast forward 16 months. In my mind’s eye I can picture myself hurrying to the front doors of that same temple, carrying a temple bag and a tuxedo. Traffic had caused me to be a bit late. The marriage ceremony was to take place at 10 in the morning. I think we were supposed to be there at 8 or 8:30 (memory, I forget exactly when). As I hustled up to the temple, I thought that my wife to be was waiting for me, wondering why I hadn't shown up. When I reached the front desk, however, to my astonishment, she’s not there! Ack! What’s the deal? Turns out she forgot her temple recommend (something that will happen three more times during these 20 years) and she’s running later than I am because she had to go back to get it. What seemed like forever was only a few minutes (she saw me hurrying to the front doors when the car she was in pulled into to the temple parking lot). Both of us finally present and accounted for, we were soon brought into a beautiful sealing room in the Los Angeles Temple and the words “for time and all eternity” were pronounced over the altar where we knelt across from each other. I remember seeing the same glitter in her eyes that I noticed when I proposed to her.
Twenty years. I’ve been told many times by many people that
I married a very special woman and I totally agree with that assessment; I
married up. She has been so patient with
me and has helped me overcome myself in so many ways. Thankfully, I’ve seen that glitter in her
eyes from time to time. I admit to not
being the most romantic person on the planet, but I manage at odd moments. I am so thankful she said “yes” to me that day
back in 1994. I am grateful she answered
affirmatively in the temple when the question was put her 20 years ago
in 1995. I love my wife very much and am
so very thankful to have her by my side not just for this life, but forever if
I continue to live true to her and the covenants I have made with Father in Heaven. J
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