December 16th, 2010

To the first grader in my Primary,

and to the 2nd grader who had a crush on my friend Laura and thus was a part of our giggly conversations when she came over to play,

and to the 3rd grader in Ms Vess' class with me whom I wrote a letter to when he moved that he kept,

and to the 8-chocolate-bar-doughnut eater (all in one sitting mind you) in Julie Cottle's seminary class (holy disgusting),

and to the freshman boy who became my best friend while dating my friend,

and to the only young man in our ward that I never managed to beat at basketball,

and to the person that I broke my mom's no-calling-a-boy-on-the-phone rule over,

and to the guy making faces at me behind his book during our performances of The Music Man, and to the junior in high school that stayed my best friend while switching to date another of my friends,

and to the teenager that t-peed my house when I turned 16,

and to the friend that left bags of licorice on my porch when I had bad days in high school,

and to the best friend that made me cry when he moved away for a few years,

and to the 19 year-old who grew up a (very) little and left on his mission to Brazil still as just-a-friend after I told him to hold that thought for a few years,

and to the missionary that I thought of lots but didn't write to as often as he'd have liked,

and to the guy I compared everyone I dated to (they never fared well by comparison) until I woke up and realized one day that I should really just date him instead ... but he was on a mission,

and to the unselfish young man that supported me whole-heartedly when I told him I was going on a mission ... and leaving a month before he'd get back from his,

and to the fish who I was sure would get away while I was gone and almost did as among others he dated another one of my friends (we don't talk about that time much),

and to the faithful friend who came to see me the day after I got home,

and to the eager beaver that went and held my hand 2 days later claiming I'd given him some sign for him to do so when really I was sweating just sitting that close to a boy,

and to the guy who finally kissed me (he was SO nervous and this time I'll admit to giving him a sign or two) and thus finally was my boyfriend even though the idea of that was so serious it scared me a bit,

and to the boyfriend who very very shortly later told me he knew he wanted to marry me and would wait however long it took until I got there too,

and to the one whom I was told to marry in answer to prayers (before I was ready for the answer - be careful not just what you pray for but when you do too),

and to the guy who laughed out loud with delight when I told him I'd got my answer,

and to my fiancee who was so cute when he proposed and tried to keep it secret but couldn't tell a convincing lie to me,

and to the handsome man in a tux that I met at the temple on August 20th 2004 to be sealed to for forever if we could just make it through all those pictures and well-wishers,

and to my husband who I kept calling husband because I could hardly believe that's what he was,

and to the brand-new daddy holding our first baby girl and crying over my shoulder,

and to the man with whom I now share a wonderful life with our three children where we pretend to be grown-up and mostly get away with it I think even though we feel like we so often have no idea what we're doing,

and to the love-of-my life who turned 30 today ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you. So much. Forever. (And no worries, you still only look about 20.)