Sunday, June 21, 2015

That Day In Pictures - The Story Of Us

Four years ago this month, I shook the hand of my dear friend Brittany's dad at a Sunday evening social that I didn't even want to go to but my two college kids forced me to go with them.  I'd known Brittany's dad for about ten years, known him by name and face only because he visited her from California a couple times a year and he would attend church with her and her family so from those visits, our whole congregation/ward knew the Reeves.  I also knew that about three or four years before that hand shake, he and his wife had divorced, a shock to us all.  I had been a divorced single parent seven years myself and as per an agreement with my kids to ensure peace, tranquility, and stability, I didn't date after my divorce and wouldn't attempt to until they all left home for college.   For us this was the right decision and actually quite liberating for me.  At the time of the hand shake, my youngest was a senior in high school.

At that Sunday social, the evening was winding up, my kids and I were about to leave and were saying our goodbyes around the room and Dan and I were introduced then;  he as Brittany's dad and I as the mother of Brittany's babysitter (my daughter Gabe).  We didn't even mention our names!  I thought he was kind and I could see where Brittany got her gentle nature from his voice and manner but that was the extent of my impression.  Dan however, (later revealed to me) had a strong impression as he shook my hand that I was someone he should attempt to become acquainted with.  He pondered on this as he drove home from the meeting, had no information with which to contact me or if he would and certainly wasn't going to ask his daughter for my contact information.  Serendipitously it was provided a couple days later when I sent Brittany a thank you note email for the nice evening and invite and my comment that it was nice to meet her dad since I had met and gotten to know her mom and various siblings over the years but never her dad (a note I sent out of friendship and good manners) and she forwarded my email along to him.    Now he had my name and email address and a few days later I was sitting at my desk at work and an email popped in from Dan Reeve.  I felt both trepidation and great surprise at this and then a red hot flush envelope my neck and face and go all the way down my legs as I began to read it; how he had struggled with fear and anxiety all week wondering how to word this email and that he wondered if it were possible to have a conversation at some point, something like that.  It was both careful and charming and I knew how hard this must have been to do.   I called my two older kids and read it to them because I had no idea how to respond or even if I wanted to and they both told me that I must!  Because he was Brittany's dad and they adored Brittany and I just should!  So I did, and we started with a few emails back and forth telling our stories, discovering how similar they were, then weekly phone calls, then both daily emails and phone calls, then cross country visits so we could go on real dates.  For five months my three kids knew and kept this to themselves sworn to secrecy and Dan's kids knew nothing about it nor anyone else.  We kept this friendship a secret because we thought it was best in case it just puttered out and no one would be the wiser, and to not worry his kids, and because we're both really private people, and also, no one loves to watch or give input to a budding relationship more than a Mormon ward or two.  Nine months after meeting, Dan proposed while I was visiting him in California.  At his point, his kids knew and were being really good sports about it, mine were hoping I would eventually marry him so they could be related to Brittany and everyone else found out about the whole thing once we were engaged. We married in Dan's beautiful Alamo CA backyard garden a year almost to the day of meeting surrounded by my parents, many of our siblings and all of our children.  Brittany's husband Jake, who was also my Bishop, performed the wedding ceremony.  I never could have imagined that I would someday marry Brittany's dad nor that my life would change so dramatically nor that I would gain five absolutely wonderful step children and be so incredibly happy and at peace as I am today.  It has been an amazingly joyful and fantastically fun three years of marriage and four years of knowing one another.  I look forward to every day to come with Dan.  Thank you Gabe and Heath for dragging me to that social.  And I thank God, my Father in Heaven for His hand in all this - in everything!






 Below, sealed in the Boston Temple for all eternity a little over a year later.

2 comments:

  1. I'm sooooo happy for you my friend😊 I so can relate to both days gone by and the "happily ever after!" ❤️ Love to you always, Laure

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  2. I loved reading your description of how it all came to be. I am so happy for both of you. Happy 3rd Anniversary!

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