16 years ago today...

Hello all of you wonderful friends of our family, this is David, the incredible Kitty Fantastico's hubs (as she would say).

It was 16 years ago today that I was privileged enough to marry this wonderful woman in the Logan Temple. She remains my joy and life and although it may sound mushy and unmanly, I would give anything for her.

A few years ago I wrote a short story version of how we met and some of the early trials and joys of our short 4 months of engagement. It was on our anniversary I gave it to her and our kids. She liked it and has been struggling to get it on this blog of hers so I wanted to abbreviate it to blog-capable (is that a word, well, its a word now, cause I just put it on the internet and if its on the internet its true.)


How we met....Kitty and the Hubs story.


I was the assistant manager of a paint store and just a year home from my mission. If you arent LDS ask me what that means. One friday I sat in the store with an employee who worked there named April. She is a sweetheart and we were good friends.


April innocently turns to me and says " I saw a childhood friend that I havent seen for years, she is awesome."


Then there is this really long pause....


"It was great seeing her and I have to say she has gotten so pretty, always was but she is very pretty. She has one of those faces that glows."


"Really" (pretty is interesting to men....no really, ask one)

"Yeah she might stop into the store tomorrow."


"Cool" (made a mental note, if and its a big if, she is pretty must remain cool)


The next day she shows up. I was sitting in the office and April and this semi-tall 'pretty' woman walk in. You should know the office is about 10' X 12' and barely enough rooms for the 2 desks and the bookshelves in it. April brings her in and they look at some color cards. I am trying to be cool about all this stuff, but she is gorgeous. No really I have proof...look, picture!!

And she actually smells pretty too, if i was blind I wouldnt have missed it.


April introduces us and we do a casual 'hi' all the while maintaining an exterior that showed anything but rabid fanboy interest. (Must remember to tell my boys because it may have been the only time in my life that I wasnt overly attentive to a pretty face and look, she married me, I win!)


They leave the office and after sitting alone in there while I can hear them talking and laughing....oh, the laugh is awesome, I want that laugh, and wasnt there a smell earlier, must invesitgate the situation more.


I walk out the office and pretend to fax something....I kid you not, I actually pretended to fax something to corporate just to see if she really was pretty....not the most impressive point in my life, maybe vaguely stalker-ish, but there I was getting ready to fax an unfinished report, that I would have to follow up with another pretense 'oops forgot the _______ (insert business term here), cant file a 2105 without the ________ included' (Okay I didnt actually say that but I did fail to actually fax anything and walk back into the office. I am not sure to this day if she noticed that I just walked out to a fax machine, shuffled some papers, took a sideways glance, shuffled papers, checked a fax number, put papers in fax, started dialing, cancelled, picked up papers, walked back in the office....sniffed as I walked by....man I am a stalker)

She left and into the office comes April, "So thats my friend, she's a sweetheart."


April seems to have a bad habit of making a statement and patiently waiting for you to throw your two cents in...like I wanted to talk....I held out but curse my family disease that hates silence.


"Yeah she seems nice"


"Yeah she is going to college right now. I just cant believe how long it has been, our families have always been so close."


"Nice" I respond, portraying an uncommitted sense to the conversation.


"What did you think of her?"


Direct questions are not a nice thing


"She seemed cool enough..."


"Yeah she really is." then she sits there, obviously thinking about how great her friend is....it was downright awkward, maybe because I was doing that....not sure.


"So is she seeing anyone?" Never before in my life have I asked someone that question. Even when I said the words it was like they floated out of my mouth and I was sitting there reading them and someone in the back of my mind said 'You did not just ask that!!!!! What happened to cool!!!!! We had a be cool plan!!!!'


"No, did you want me to see if she wants to go out, me and Rick could double with you guys." April rattled off this idea like it was a spring on a bear trap. I think I actually heard a spring loaded THWUMP!!! It had all that speed and sudden force that I started to see what was on her mind all along.


You see, if you know me you know I am a bit of a pigheaded person. I had in fact told April before that I never do blind dates. The only ones I had done turned out badly. So here she was seeing a childhood friend and a current friend and thinking they would match and she decides, knowing this, to introduce us in a non-threatening way then help us go on a date if there is interest. It was the only way it would have worked on me and bless her for doing it. 16 years later I appreciate it more than I did then.


That day that Carrie walked out of our store with a 1/2 pint of spackle (not kidding there, she had to fork over $1.79 to meet me...apparently that is the price of admission to visit my presence...wow, I should charge more. interesting side note...that 1/2pint of spackle sat in her mom's living room I think until she sold that house some time later, a little memory for me and apparently I am not the only stalker like person in this realtionship!)

Anyway that day she came in led to wonderful 4 months of dating and engagement. It was July 11th, 1992 we met, July 15th we went on our first date and the following sunday I proposed (in secret, her mom was out of town.)


There are many more stories for me, including a great one where on the first date she told me that she had promised herself she wouldnt kiss anyone until after the 6th date....4 days and 6 dates later we had our first kiss....she made the rules I just made sure all the dates happened!


I love this woman, she is the queen of my world and I am so thankful for her in my life.

The Hubs