HERE!!!
Hey!
I'M!
ENGAGED!!!!
Actually, I'm married. So you can read the engagement story below, or go
here to get wedding pix.
Here we are...at Roxy's Diner
in Thousand Oaks, after I
"popped the question."
(As always, you can click the thumbs
to see bigger versions)
A few years ago, I moved to a new Church ward in the Valley. My first day in church, in walked the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. Laura. Wow. Because I am a brazen, shameless hussy, I immediately approached her for a date.
She said yes, but we never ended up going out. Things got in the way, and we never made it on the date. But in the course of the few weeks there, I developed my first crush. In fact, I was in a band at the time, and I even wrote a song called Crush about her. It was and continues to be my most-asked-for piece when I play with my band. But she never knew that because, quite honestly, she was just scary to me (in a good way... she was too beautiful to get close to). Soon thereafter, I moved, she moved, and things pretty much ended at that point.
A couple years later, I saw her again. Still the most beautiful woman ever, she was giving a talk in Church. I listened to her and was so very impressed at the talk she gave. It was great. So I asked her out again.
This time she said yes and we actually went out. Nothing big, we just went to Westlake and fed the ducks and walked and talked. But it was the best time I had ever had until that point. I knew about 15 minutes into it that I was officially "off the market."
Part of what made it such a good evening was that I played Crush for her. It was a blast. She seemed to like the song pretty well, which was awesome (imagine how "crushing" it would have been if she didn't like it, haha). And what made the evening even better was that before I could even mention seeing her again, SHE asked ME out on another date.
That night I didn't sleep a wink. Not a wink. Too excited about everything. We talked the next day on the phone, and it turned out she hadn't slept either. She'd been writing in her journal almost the whole night.
Well, needless to say we went out again. And again. In addition to being fabulously beautiful, it turns out that the great love of my life is also the nicest person I have ever met, devastatingly smart, and has a deep testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, all of which were on my List.
You know what List I'm talking about: that one you have in high school, where you mark out all the things your future spouse will have to have. And as you get older, the "requirements" gradually get looser, because you realize that perfect girl (or boy) just doesn't exist.
Well, it turns out she does. So I had to make sure to sucker her into wanting to stick around for a while. Or forever. Whichever came last.
So we talked. Lots of talking, spending time together. She was feeling the same way about me as I did about her (no accounting for that, but I'll take it!).
Well, Saturday the 9th of February there was a Valentine's Day activity at my Church. I asked her to go with me, because I had to perform a song during the party. I was expecting about 50 people to be there... turned out there were closer to 200.
But no biggie. My Bishop volunteered to be a microphone stand, so I pulled out my guitar...
and started to sing the song I had begun writing for Laura around our 2nd date.
that I've never written a love song before.
But I never knew what love was 'til you
Walked through my door.
And now I'm trying to find
The words to say what's on my mind.
But I don't know the words to say
To make you stay.
It's like trying to describe a moonbeam to the sun
Or like lying back to count all the stars in the sky one by one.
It's beyond my ability, something I just can't do.
So instead of trying that, I'll simply say
I love you.
I've sung songs to images half-glimpsed,
Shadows that faded away.
And all the times I thought I was in love, well would
True love fade that way?
So now with you I'm trying to find
The words to say what's on my mind.
But I don't know the words to say
To make you stay.
It's like trying to find reality in my dreams
Or like trying to discover answers to life's mysteries.
And even if I knew how to say this would my know-how carry me?
So instead of knowing that what I want to know is...
and went down on one knee to sing
the big last line of the song, which was....]
... will you marry me?
