Friends 6 of 7

Would you like a tour of my bus?

I'm weak at the knees just thinking about it;) I mean who wouldn't be?  These are obviously the words of a 16 year old who knows he has just met the woman he will spend the rest of his life with.....and maybe even all eternity....if he's lucky.

To be honest the Dundee bus was actually quite cool, it had curtains.  Way better than the bus Dunfermline had for the trip to the London Temple-bit of a sore point in some quarters, the kind if thing that's still not laughed about:)

I always liked Gary from the first time I met him, I found him so easy to be around and was instantly comfortable with him.  He was the perfect balance of deep and silly.  I also thought he was very handsome!

We met and dated at 16 a little, then I left school after 5th year and went to University.  Since Gary is a year younger than me that meant he was a 5th year at High School and I was a big grown up 1st year at Uni....not cool...so I dumped him.

He took it well and went on to bigger and better things he tells me.  I'll give him the bigger;)

Truth was Gary was a bit of a catch and I knew it.  He had some very pretty girlfriends.   I still liked him and always kept track of the latest on his love life.  We'd stayed good friends.  I remember him asking me to dance at a ceilidh we were at despite being there with his current girlfriend.  We laughed and laughed through our dance and I was quite content in the knowledge that one day we'd be together again.

A trip to London pre-missions

Then he went to America to work for a few months and I travelled around Europe, we got back at roughly the same time.  He asked his ex-girlfirend back out she said no, so he called me again!  He actually called me by her name when he asked me-honestly he did!

We dated for a few months but knew that a long separation was on the horizon.  Hours after the bells rang in the millennium we kissed and told each other we loved each other for the first time and then broached the topic of "waiting".

Gary-just after being set apart.  What I love about this photo is that it demonstrates how clearly comfortable I was with Gary.   So much so that I didn't feel the need to do my blinking hair despite knowing this was the last time we'd see each other for over two years!

You see Gary and I are mormons and mormons serve missions.  I knew I would too, I'd decided that as a 16 year old, and for Gary it was a decision that was a given.  It meant we'd be on different continents for over 2 years and would only correspond through letter.  For every week we were apart we wrote and sent each other tapes we had recorded on dictaphones.

Typical of Gary he still found imaginative ways to surprise me.

While we had dated we once had a big row-it was his fault, obviously.  We were babysitting for my sister and I refused to talk to him.  He kept saying sorry then said is there anything I can do for you.  Rather flippantly I said "I'd like a crunchie".  He didnt say a word he got up and put his coat on.  The shop was miles away-I didn't stop him.

When he eventually got back he had a bag of crunchies, still neither of us said a word as he laid out on the floor the exact number of crunchies he had calculated it would take to spell out "I love you".

He was forgiven.

Crunchie-The Food of Love

It gets better....so on Temple Square as a missionary twice it happened that I was randomly approached by a stranger who handed me a crunchie and said this is from Gary!

By the time my mission to Temple Square, SLC, Utah ended Gary had been home from France for a few months.  I stayed on in America with my family for a week or so and Gary and I talked on the phone for the third time in 2 and half years.  We spoke for 7 hours.

So when I finally saw him again, I already knew.

Like the cat that got the cream!

We were married 6months later, 13 years ago in April.

Gary is the love of my life, he knows all my stories and keeps me steady and grounded.  He is my very best friend.


No eastenders ending here, I could happily finish the series of blogs with this but there are one or two others I'd like to mention and a few things more to say.....