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Next week, this cute guy and I will celebrate 10 happy and blessed years as a married couple. 

And they said it wouldn’t last!  Actually, NO ONE said that, thankfully!  But they did mention that it might be a little too fast.  What’s the hurry?! 

Derek and I met in August of 1997, set up on a fun and simple double date with two mutual friends.  It was a nice evening, but I was entering into my last semester of college, taking 21 hours of class time and interning for the local ABC news affiliate, so I had no time for a serious relationship.  And I didn’t return to Dallas from San Marcos for the next 4 months.  But we did e-mail, and established a really nice friendship.  We still have a notebook with all of those e-mails printed out!

Then in January of ’98 I started looking for a job.  I looked heavily in Salt Lake City…wanting to be near friends in Provo.  But nothing was materializing.  I applied for jobs in West Texas and Ithaca, NY at TV stations, but decided that I wasn’t THAT adventurous.  In the meantime, Derek says he was praying me to Dallas.  And it worked.  I took a job with a start-up TV news/weather franchise called WeatherCaster.  And I came back to live with my mom until I could find an apartment.

Derek took me out for ice cream that first weekend after I moved here, and then every weekend after that. He flew me up for the General Conference of our church in April of that year and I met his family.  We took a drive that Sunday afternoon to see the snow in the mountains and he spontaneously proposed overlooking the Snowbird ski area. 

Then we planned a quick, but beautiful, wedding for July 17, 1998.  Our poor families probably thought we had lost our minds…everything was so fast.  January – July. 

But when it’s right, it’s right.  And we knew it was right.

Derek has always been a calming influence to my high-strung, high-spirited temperament.  Many people don’t ever see this side of him…but he’s HILARIOUS!  Always making me laugh.  He is a hard worker, smart and wise in his business dealings.  He is well-respected.  He is compassionate and kind.  He is an involved, caring, and thoughtful father.  He is so capable and excels at everything he tries. 

I feel so blessed to have this man in my life.  Our lives are certainly not perfect…mostly because of our own foibles and imperfections.  But our life together is so GOOD.  I am truly living the life I always hoped for…being a wife and mother.  Derek has never tried to influence me to be anything that I’m not.  He’s always loved and accepted me just the way I am.  I strive to be better because of his patient influence.

I’m grateful that next week as we celebrate in Hawaii, we will truly have something to celebrate…a marriage that has brought 10 years of joy and growth and blessings.