he+she=we

the boy.

the love story.

i have a love affair with japan. i have since i was a kid. my pa served a 2 year service-based mission for our church there and brought his love of the land and people back with him. this is where our story began.

my pa met another young man while in training for his mission. they were both headed for japan - albeit different areas. they weren't very close, but knew each other well enough that 14+ years later, when our family was stationed at yokota air force base in tokyo, japan, he recognized his fellow missionary's name in our small church congregation. his family had also been stationed in japan. he was now married and had a young son and two young girls. 

this young boy would someday become the love of my life.  

what a small, small world. 

i was 9. the boy was 12. alas, it wasn't to be (yet). he liked my older sister and i was just the tag-a-long. about a year after we moved to japan, his family moved back to the states. 

funny enough, our family wasn't too far behind. through a twist of fate, both mine and his family ended up in utah. while at a local theme park one halloween evening, i happened to bump into the boy. i was still too young, only 12 or so at the time, but i was smitten. 

after that, the boy and my sister renewed their friendship and stayed in touch throughout the years. i would pester her to let me hang out with them, but to no avail. i was still too young. 

fast forward a couple of years. the boy is graduated and we've moved to another state. i'm in high school. his mother and my ma have stayed in touch and we find out that he's about to leave on his own mission to - you'll never believe it - sapporro, japan. ma encouraged me to write him, since i always had a little crush on him and by the time he was due home, i would be graduated from high school. i blew her off. after all, what could come of writing someone who lived (now) on the other side of the globe? 

after graduation, in 2004, i moved to new york to nanny for a family. i was homesick and found myself on (AOL!) chat one night with an old mutual friend of the boy's and mine. he casually mentioned that the boy was home from his mission. i decided i'd give him a call. there was no thought in my mind that anything would come of this phone call, other than reminiscing about japan and the old times together.

i worked up the courage and gave him a call. he was at work so i left a message with one of his sister's. a couple of hours later i got a call. 

this may sound silly, but it was pure magic. almost from the moment we started talking, i knew he was the one i wanted to spend forever with. we talked every day, either online, or on the phone, and in december i decided to fly out to utah after spending a week with my family to visit him. 

that christmas, while we cuddled on his parent's couch, he told me he loved me. he was sheepish and adorable, and hasn't stopped since. 

2 (loooong) years later we finally tied the knot, on november 4, 2006. the rest is lovely, lovely history.