The First Time They Talked
It was a multi-stake YSA activity at Ensign Ranch, an LDS church-owned property in Cle Elum, Washington. Betsy was there to scope out new people and get down with her bad self. Joe was there to socialize and hang out with friends. Mostly, it was kind of a bust, but they did meet each other.
They’d met before, of course. It’s hard to attend a branch with only about 40 people and not meet. Mostly, they knew each other’s names, and that they shared a love of Bill Engvall (they both attended his concert a few weeks before). A group of people went outside to catch the next hay ride and just missed it. They decided to wait for the next one, about 15 minutes later. In that 15 minutes, Joe and Betsy somehow migrated to the same area, so when the truck came back, they’d been talking for a few minutes (along with another girl). Betsy was cold, so she sat in the middle. Joe put his arm around her to help warm her up. They chatted while their friend got hit on by a random guy.
The random guy was young, probably just out of high school, and was talking about his senior project. The friend was obviously uninterested, but too polite to say so. After observing the exchange for a few minutes, Betsy leaned over to Joe and whispered, “Dude. Like, my entire senior project was based around scaring people. That’s, like, all we did, dude, was scare people every day. It was awesome.” Joe laughed, then leaned back and whispered, “Tubular!”
Betsy thought, “I think I’m going to like this guy. We should be friends.”
Joe thought, “This girl is pretty cool. I should get to know her better.”
The Man-Teasing Plan
After meeting this interesting man who laughed at her jokes and appreciated stand-up comedy, Betsy was disappointed when he didn’t pay as much attention to her as expected. She was a little annoyed at first, but then she remembered that she’d always said that when she got hot, she was going to toy with a man just because she could (don’t judge – it was inspired by a lifetime of being toyed with by men). Having recently lost 100 pounds, she’d officially reached “hot” status, and Joe seemed like a good candidate.
The first move came in a flash of inspiration: Betsy needed a branch member’s phone number, but couldn’t find it on the list. The individual was a mutual friend of her and Joe’s, so when she saw “Joe Adams” listed right there at the top, she thought, “Ooh, this could be good.” The conversation when something like this:
Joe (curious tone here, it was an unfamiliar, out of state number after all): “Hello?”
Betsy (quite cheerfully, but casually): “Hi, Joe, it’s Betsy!”
Joe (pleasantly surprised): “Oh . . . Hi!”
Betsy (still cheerful and casual): “Hey, I really need to get a hold of Stephanie, but I can’t find her phone number anywhere. Do you have it?”
Joe (still surprised): “Sure, let me get it . . .”
Betsy (ever cheerful and casual): “Thanks so much! Bye!”
It was nothing short of brilliance. Joe texted Betsy later that night. They struck up a conversation. They started talking more at activities. There was a late-night Shari’s run; a trip to Ellensburg to pick up furniture; a movie at Betsy’s; more furniture moving. The more time they spent together, the more they found in common, and the more they realized they could really be themselves together.
The Man-Teasing Plan got more complicated. Betsy called her BFF Felicia for Man-Teasing Advice: “Just be cool.” “I can’t just be cool! I’m not cool!” She started to notice how much fun she had with Joe, how good she felt when they were together. And she was pretty sure he was noticing the same thing.
It had become clear to Betsy that Man-Teasing was not the route she wanted to go. She liked and respected Joe more than that – he was sweet and funny and hardworking. She realized that her great Man-Teasing Plan had morphed into a Man-Catching Plan. The two were spending and more time together, and more and more of their time thinking about each other.
The First Date and “Taking it Slow”
After a while Joe and Betsy decided to go on an official date. They’d been spending a lot of time together, but just as friends. They talked about how much they enjoyed spending time together. Betsy thought she liked Joe. Joe thought he liked Betsy. They figured they should go on a real date and see if they liked each other.
The date was scheduled for Friday night, then pushed back to Saturday. But once you’ve realized how you feel about someone, it’s hard to wait. They spent every night that week together. Joe held Betsy’s hand on Monday – it was snowing and he said, “You’d better hold on to me so you don’t slip.” They went to a movie with some friends on Tuesday (more hand holding). They talked each night, and by Saturday, Betsy was so excited she could hardly stand it.
First they went to dinner at Olive Garden, where they talked and laughed and people watched. Then they went to see “Skyline” – quite possibly the worst movie of all time. Joe told Betsy she wasn’t allowed to choose the movies anymore. They went back to Betsy’s and watched another movie. The official story was that “Skyline” was so terrible that they had to watch another to get the awfulness out of their heads. The truth was that they wanted to spend more time together. They did, too – Joe didn’t leave until 4:00 am. They spent the night talking. Joe said he liked Betsy, but that they should “take it slow.” Betsy saw the wisdom in that and agreed, even though she hated it.
They sat together at church on Sunday and held hands. They thought they were being discreet, but apparently close proximity is enough to make you a couple in a single’s branch. People asked Betsy what was up, people asked Joe what was going on, and even more people asked their friend Amanda if they were together.
On Monday they skipped out on FHE and drove around talking. They talked about how everyone seemed to think they were a couple, and about how neither of them cared. They ran into some people they knew. Betsy joked about how since everyone had seen them together, they might as well make it official. Joe said, “Well, we could.” Betsy said, “Wait, what? I was kind of joking. I thought you wanted to go slow.” Joe said, “I did. But the more time I spend with you, the more I like you, and I kind of feel like we’re already together anyway.” Betsy said, “Ok. I hated the going slow idea anyway.”
A little bit later that night, Joe kissed Betsy for the first time. Afterwards, Betsy looked at Joe and said, “Holy crap.” Joe said, “Yeah, no kidding.”
It should have been a tip-off. Who wants to go slow anyway?
The Proposal
It wasn’t long before Joe and Betsy started thinking about the possibility of getting married. It scared the pants off them both, but they were so comfortable together and so in love that they already couldn’t imagine being apart. That’s the thing about finding your soul mate – when you’ve been waiting for them your whole life it doesn’t take long to realize they’re The One.
They went ring shopping and found a ring that made Betsy go all giggly and girly. Joe said that unless they could find one that made her giddier, he thought it was the one. Joe was waiting on his tax return to buy the ring, and he wanted to surprise Betsy with something really special. When the money came, though, he couldn’t wait and went down to the store on his lunch hour.
That Friday night, Betsy headed over to Joe’s house after work. It had been a long day at the end of a long week, and she was looking forward to spending the evening with the man she loved. She got there, put down all her stuff, sighed and said, “I’m so glad to see you.”
Joe gave her an extra big hug and an extra good kiss. Betsy said, “Wow. What was that for?”
Joe said, “I love you.”
Betsy said, “I love you too.”
Joe said, “Actually . . .” and he pulled a little white box out of his pocket. Since Betsy A) was expecting something extra fancy and B) had no idea he’d bought the ring, this was a pretty big shock. Then Joe knelt down, right there in the middle of the living room, and asked Betsy to marry him. She, of course, said yes. Then she hugged the crap out of him and they laughed and kissed and watched the ring sparkle.
And Here We Are . . .
We are so excited to be embarking on this journey together! It feels like we’ve been waiting for each other our whole lives, and we can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together. The wedding part is fun, but what we’re really looking forward to is being married to our best friend, building our dreams together, and facing life hand in hand.
