Grateful for that moment in time

20 some years ago I had a friend named Tripp who went to church with me in Tennessee.  We grew up going to stake dances together and he had dated one of my best friends.  Flash forward to winter of 1994 - we had both returned home from our missions.  We dated a bit here and there as friends at BYU and then we went home for Christmas.  While there, we hung out quite a bit and Tripp began to tell me about this friend of his who was thinking about running for student body president at BYU (Trip was the current vice president at BYU).  He talked this guy up and said that I would be a perfect running mate and should consider it.  I agreed to meet his friend and when Christmas break ended, Tripp and I went back to school.  Little did I know, I would marry that "friend" within the calendar year.

A week or so later, he introduced me to my prospective running mate - Jammin James Johnson.  He was cute and outgoing and shy all at the same time.  He was crazy around everyone but shy around me.  We began to attend the 6am meetings that all candidates must go to during the vetting process.  And we discovered that in order to run, we would have to give up things we didn't want to give up (for me it was teaching at the MTC and for James it was being an EFY counselor).  So after several weeks of meeting going together, we decided not to run.  Instead, we hooked up with 2 of the other candidates (Matt Cowley & Kami Hobbs) and helped run their campaign.  Thanks in no small part to our amazing efforts, they won.  And true to political nepotism, James was appointed Vice President over Activities and I was appointed Associate VP of Involvement.  We each got a scholarship and a cute little office on the 4th floor of the Wilkinson center which aligned and cemented our paths together.  All of this happened during the winter semester.  We saw each other every now and again as we bumped into each other on the 4th floor or attended a meeting for BYUSA.  Life was busy and hectic.  I was dancing on the Ballroom Dance team, teaching at the MTC, working for BYUSA and trying to be a full time student.  I was dating several guys and one quite steadily.  Life went on pretty normally till the spring.

Spring of 1994 was fast and furious and fun.  There was so much going on.  James asked me out for the first time that spring.  I was legitimately busy and couldn't go.  He asked me out again and again I had a conflict that I couldn't get out of.  Then again he pulled out all the stops and got 2 tickets to the James Taylor Concert at Sundance - could it get any better than that?  And again I couldn't make it (I was the maid of honor at my cousins wedding!).  I'm sure James wanted to move on but luckily he was persistent.  Though we couldn't find time to "date", being in BYUSA required us to attend a lot of "leadership activities" together.  They were bonding activities to help all the BYUSA officers work as a team.  We went to Timp Lodge, Aspen Grove, and on a rafting trip.  During these trips, we all hung out and did exactly what we were supposed to do, bond.  I was there.  James was there.  Our purpose in going was to bond and we did.  By the 4th of July, he asked me out and we actually went on a date.

That's when time sped up to almost an unbearable speed.  We went out again and again and fell in love.  And got married and had 5 kids and got grey hair and loved each other so so so much.  So today on my sweetheart's 44th birthday, I have to give pause to think about Tripp and the gratitude I feel for him placing me in the path of the man I love the most of all.   Without that little detour set up by Tripp, I feel I never would have had the occasion and opportunity to meet and date my husband.  Thanks Tripp.  I owe you big.