Eight Years Ago

To celebrate our eighth anniversary I thought I would post "Our Stories". We wrote these for our ward Valentine's Day party. Every thought we had the coolest story, that is until they heard Mike and Vanessa Stanfill's story. (Think - Shop Around the Corner - with a twist.)

Anyway, here they are, hope you enjoy.

Tom and Renee's Wedding Story

Renee's Version:

In 1995 Tom and I met at EFY. We spent the week hanging out together and wrote several letters back and forth for many months thereafter. Time passed and we fell back into the routine of our individual lives: school, sports and dating lots of people. Years past, out of the blue I got a letter from Tom telling me he was leaving on his mission. Harmless enough, I wrote him back, after all, what's the worst that could happen? We sent several letters back and forth, no pictures, no flirting, just happenings. Two years past and he showed up on my doorstep. It wasn't love at first sight, more like syncrosity – yeah, I just made that word up – let'say it is where two individual rhythms meet, instantly resonate and find harmony. We were instantly greater together then the sum of our parts. I can't say that there was anything specific about him; I was just drawn in. He wasn't the perfect man but he made me laugh everyday. I found peace in his company; to be myself without reservations, excuses or games. It must have looked very foolish and ill-conceived. To marry a Lasagna Factory Security Guard with no gun and less then a year of college under his belt. Something in his passion made me realize that together our greatest dreams would be accomplished. There was no hesitation accepting his proposal.

Tom's Version:

I met this really nice little girl at EFY one year, she was only 14. We wrote a bunch of letters, but fell out of practice after a few. Then when I left on my mission, on a tip from my brother, I wrote letters to every girl I could think of. It was a fun diversion. I got updates from a bunch of old friends, including Renee. Although there was never anything romantic between us, but it seemed that I was looking forward to her letters more then the others. It's odd, I hadn't seen her for years – not even a picture – but I felt drawn to her. I'd been home three days; I was near her house and thought I would pay her a visit. A virtuous-lovely-of-good-report-and-praiseworthy girl answered the door. One look and that was it, she became my future. She became a permanent part of my thought. In an effort to clear my mind I took a lot of trips, around Utah, back to my mission, out to California and such. But, in a familiar way, I felt myself drawn back. I would return to her and with Renee find myself home.