confessions of a gmail-crazed girlfriend

I've decided to confess.

For those of you who know me personally, you know my email address includes my married name. What most of you do not know is that I created that email address before I was married.

Even before I was engaged.

Even a whole year before I was engaged.

Possibly even within the first two weeks of our relationship.

yes.

it is true.

and beyond embarrassing.

In short, I have owned my email address for 6.5 years now, but my 5 year wedding anniversary is next month.

David likes to tell people this. I have refrained.

But now I speak. I have been married nearly 5 years. I have born DH's child. I am pregnant with our second child. I've decided to own up. But 6.5 years ago, gmail was still new enough that some really good email addresses were still available. What if I married DH and then the perfect email was no longer available? I had to create it IMMEDIATELY or face dire consequences. Very dire indeed. You may spend your whole life trying to get an email address without a number in it. And then you get your chance. And you take it.

I know I'm not the only one.

Confess.

Reija's Rapunzelness and pink-like things

I was struck recently by the parallelism between two photos.

In this shot, I am wearing Reija's hair. I look quite dashing. It seems Rapunzel-like to me the way I am using her hair.

And here is little Ila wearing the baby blanket Reija made. Which is very long and Rapunzel-like.

Both blanket and hair come from Reija, and both are long and pink-like. (Pink-like indicating that Reija'a hair is actually red, not pink, and is only pink-like for the purpose of this paragraph.)

And in the spirit of pink hair (which Reija does NOT have), here are some pictures from David's 26th birthday party that I threw for him while we were dating:

Which of David's hats do you like best?

And of course I must include Karren's scandalous moment with pink hair and a bottle of (root?) beer:

my love life and the importance of Sarah Olson's car

Sarah Olson. She so rocks. Knowing her changed my life. (As I think she has for many others.) This may sound dramatic. But really, it was her absence that caused one of the more beautiful events of my life to occur.

If I didn't know Sarah Olson, I never would have sublet her apartment and lived at Melville House for several months while she went to Ghana.

Sarah Olson had a car. An old BMW I think. It lived on Melville Avenue. We would move it every now and then so it wouldn't get towed. Then my car broke down. And I took the liberty of borrowing her car.

I was dating this boy, see. DH was his name. He didn't have a car. And so it went that I always drove because I had the car. It sort of irritated me. Yeah. So when my car broke down and we borrowed Sarah's (she wasn't using it!), I took advantage and forced DH to drive.

We went to a Good Friday concert put on by the Valparaiso Singers. I wore green. He held my hand. Then he drove to his apartment. This is where Sarah's car became the factor that altered the events of that night.

If my car hadn't broken down, I would have driven us to the concert. Then I would have dropped him off. I don't think I would have walked him to his door. It was cold. I was in short sleeves and a skirt. I was also sort of afraid he would kiss me. I was going to escape back home and remain unkissed. (Yes, I was a wimp. I was also 23 and never kissed before.) I would have stayed in the drivers seat, given him an awkward hug over the gear shift, and then he would have got out of the car. And I would have driven away.

But my car did break down. And we borrowed Sarah's car. I made him drive. Hence, when we went to his apartment to drop him off, I was still in the passenger seat. I had to get out and walk to the other side of the car to get into the drivers seat in order to drive myself home. And well, what happened when our paths crossed outside the car was totally because of Sarah Olson and her car.

Thanks for "letting" me borrow your car Sarah. It was a memorable experience.

fame in the eyes of many / love poem

DH and I met in an LDS singles ward. Stanford 1st, to be specific. I didn't like him. (But he liked me!) You might even say I avoided him. In fact, you might say a lot more things that I can't believe I ever felt/thought/did! A negative opinion, once formed, dies hard. Unless God smiles upon you, that is.

But then, 3 years later, we got married. How did this happen? Loathe to Love in 3 years flat. Our story has become famous (or infamous?) among the Stanford singles wards. People I don't know and have never talked to know about us (that is, never talked to until they walk up to me at a party and say, "Are you the laura that dated so and so..." etc). I also suspect that it is a celebrated story because it has some similarities to Pride and Prejudice (which is of course wildly popular you know).

But we have now possibly reached the pinnacle of fame. We have been mentioned on The Apron Stage, by none other than Sarah Olson. Quoting her post from August 17:

And a few years ago, a guy in my church (Dave) loved a girl in my church (Laura) who hated him. She hated him. But Dave pursued and pursued and one day Laura realized she was ridiculous for not loving Dave because he was so awesome. They married and still beam at each other in public and in private. (As charming and hope-giving as their story is, it put the fear of Love into each of the women we knew. What if the man of our dreams is the very guy we like the least? This is a question I have still not resolved. I hope I never have to, please bless.)

Sarah's point about the fear of Love is well founded. It is true I did not like DH. Then, all the sudden I did. This was nothing less than God opening my eyes. There were several difficult months of dating DH where I had two warring angels on my shoulders. The good angel saw DH with newly opened eyes, and the bad angel remembered the way I used to see him. It was difficult (to say the least) to reconcile the two versions of feelings in my head.

And now I must say this: DH did not deserve to be unliked. He was only ever charming and handsome. Beware how quick you judge a potential suitor. People get nervous and say stupid things. Or you might feel emotionally unavailable because you met someone the day before that you already like a lot. Tunnel vision is not helpful there. Or you might hate bowling and thus remember that date and suitor negatively.

And now for a love poem (haiku).

Ode to DH

DH is my love

my hiccups are really loud

but he still loves me