5 years ago...

Was an important time for Chance and I. I had known Chance for about 4 months...we met in English 150, which happened to be my first class on my first day of college. I was late. Go figure. The funny thing was Savanna (my best friend and roommate) and I had left with plenty of time to spare! But...we got lost. When we finally walked in, I was so embarrassed. Chance says he noticed me right away (probably helped that I was late to the small class). So I guess being late sometimes has a plus side! We knew each other that whole first semester and had the same circle of friends so we saw each other a lot. But...just as friends. For one thing, I wasn't really interested in starting a serious relationship, period. Add to that the fact that Chance still had a mission in his near future...yeah, no thanks. I always swore I would never be one of those girls (y'know, the ones who pine over a missionary in a faraway land...yeah...I'll get to that part). Those 4 months of that first fall semester can be summed up in one word: FUN. Freshman year of college is an experience all it's own. There is always a dance happening or a double date to go on. The first time I distinctly remember hanging out with Chance was on one of those double dates. But he wasn't my actual date. There were four couples and we went classic skating and basically I skated with my other best friend/roommate/now-sister-in-law Jessica (another story for another time:). She and I laughed that we had a great time as each other's dates because freshmen boys sometimes just clump together on double dates. Anyway, one thing I remember clearly from that night was how FUNNY I thought Chance was. I was like, "Who is this kid?? He's hilarious! I gotta hang out with him more!" But still, I wasn't interested in dating. If I'm being honest, I did like Chance but his "about to serve a mission" sign was still too big of a deterrent. That's why it's kind of hard to define exactly how things fell in to place when we came back to school in January for our second semester. Here's how I remember it in my head. On January 14th, 2008, Chance, myself, and some other friends went to one of those CES devotionals at the Marriott Center (this is basically where a church leader speaks to a group of young-ish church members). Then we went home. But, you know how it is, girls always talk after getting back from being with boys. Jessica and I did just that. Basically she told me, "Anna, you and Chance should figure this out. You obviously like each other. Either date or don't!" She was totally right. After talking for a couple hours, going back and forth between the two options, I finally came to the *resolute* conclusion that I had to explain to Chance that, while I DID like him, I just couldn't date a boy who was about to leave for a mission. I didn't want to "have a missionary." Satisfied with that decision, I asked Jessica to wish me luck and called Chance. It was late, but I'm the kind of girl that when I have something on my mind, it cannot wait. I asked Chance if he was still awake and if we could talk (his dorm was right behind mine). He casually said that of course he was still awake and sure that was fine (later I found out that I had caught him as he was just about to fall asleep and he jumped out of bed and changed back into his clothes! hahaha!) We met up and this is the part where I honestly don't remember what was said. Doesn't that seem like a pretty important conversation to forget?? What I do remember is a distinct feeling I had. Even as I was about to say no to dating Chance I had the clear feeling of "You will be making the biggest mistake of your life if you don't date him." Well, okay then. I didn't need to be told twice. Chance must have had similar feelings because, one way or another, Chance and I went back to our rooms that night as an official couple. Oh, and we had our first kiss. Kind of important. Let's just say it was the best kiss I had ever had. It was equal parts genuine, sweet, and spontaneous and just had so much promise in it. The last first kiss I ever had. We dated that semester, Chance left on a mission for 2 years and I was totally and completely that girl. I wrote ever so faithfully and fell more and more in love with him. A few sentences cannot sufficiently sum up those two years, how much both of us grew up, and changed, and grew together, but to make a long story short, he came home, asked me to marry him, and that is just what we did. So this time of year holds a very special place in my heart. Winter has never been quite as bad because I have these memories from 5 years ago.

xo