a love story.

my MIL asked each of her children write down their "story" and send it to her.
but how do you sum up 13 years of history? i thought and thought.
this is what i sent to her:

the story of bensey.

it was 1997.

it was also a freezing january day in kaysville, utah.

i was 17, and just starting my first day at a new high school. as i opened one of the brown double doors and entered 'the commons' of davis high, i could hear it. faintly. it seemed to be carried on the wind, whispered on the mouths of my soon to be schoolmates. i tried to make out the words. standing still, listening. straining my ears. but i couldn't understand. after a few moments i sighed, shrugged and gave up.

what i know now, but didn't know then, was that the day i entered that high school was the day that i had taken a step forward, toward my future.

toward.

my.

destiny.

three months later on a rainy day in march i was sitting on a couch at my friend jen's house when suddenly, there was a knock at the door. as it swung open, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and angels from heaven broke out in the "hallelujah chorus." sun streamed over his brown, fluffy, curly, overgrown hair. rays outlined his tie-dyed t-shirt, wide leg jeans and skater shoes. i had to shield my eyes for fear of suffering from burned retinas as i squinted to make out his facial features. i saw brown, happy eyes lined with dark lashes. and then i saw his smile.

and at that moment, i knew.

as my friends said the words that i had sensed on the wind of my destiny just a few months prior, my heart started to pound with such a mixture of fear and excitement that my knee pits started to sweat profusely. i closed my eyes for a moment and saw flashes of laughter, joy, friendship and love.

ben strader.

my future.

of course i couldn't admit that i knew the truth, our truth. so i sat quietly, watching ben as he joked with my other friends. he made us all laugh with his humor. he was easy-going and kind. self-confidant without an ego. so unlike the other boys my age.

i knew i would have to be patient. that for the present time i needed to keep him at a distance and just remain friends. we couldn't date in high school or it would ruin what we were to become.

and so i waited. we maintained an easy friendship that lasted even after high school ended. everything was flawless. and it all had to happen in order to be able to meet up 5 years later, fall in love, get married, have children and eventually allow him turn me into the vampire i longed to be so that we could spend our eternity on earth running barefoot through forests hand in hand.

the end.

happy weekend everybody!