Emailing in Europe

As if Hawaii wasn't enough fun, Ken took a three week trip to Europe with his family.  At first he'd just send me a picture or two with a few sentences telling about what he did that day.  I'd respond with a brief summary of my day.  Casual.

One of the many pictures I received!

But that didn't last long.  Soon, our emails were paragraphs long.  And not just like a long email every few days.  Like...super long, emails every day.  I'd have to force myself to not obsessively check my email - trying to save it as a little treat for the end of the day.  It was an interesting way to get to know each other, and turned out to be rather effective.  

Further

As if Provo wasn't far enough away from Logan, Ken ventured off to Hawaii with two of his best friends.  He didn't abandon me completely though.  Even though he was in beautiful Hawaii for some of the first days following our second date, I've talked to him every day since then.  

He made sure to send me pictures to let me know what I was missing.

The next part was what came as a surprise to me.  I remember him mentioning coming to visit in Logan upon returning to Utah.  He said Sunday and Monday would work for him.  Jokingly, I said, "Sunday AND Monday??", not considering that this is what he actually meant.

Sure enough, he came up that Sunday.  We enjoyed an evening of talking, driving, and feeding ducks.  This was the fourth time I had seen the guy, and I was already hooked.  I didn't want him to leave, but I soon had to send him on his way back to Ogden.

He drove up the next day.  We went and got crepes and went on a hike.  Although we hadn't had very much time together, we had this connection.  We could just talk and talk and talk...and laugh and laugh and laugh.  

Such a delightful day.

PB&J & Some Cheese

(Prepare for this to maybe get a little cheesy.)

I was wrong.  Our second date was the next weekend.  He took me to see Les Mis (the actual play version) in Salt Lake.  He later told me he was worried, because he brought vending machine peanut butter sandwiches to eat on the steps of the theater.  His worry was not needed however.  This was a great opportunity for use to talk, laugh, and get to know each other a little better.

I also experienced some anxiety that night...the anxiety of sitting in a dark theater, waiting to see if any hand holding will occur.  It did.  We drove home from the play, holding hand on the drive home.  I was full of anticipation--concerns of distance quickly leaving my mind.  I was excited about this boy!  He walked me to my door and gave me a long hug.  We both pulled back, looked at each other, smiled...then he leaned in and kissed me goodnight.  Flawless.

(Unfortunately, there is no picture documentation of this very noteworthy night.)

The Foreign Food Connection.

We went on our first date on May 3.  It was a fun group hiking date to Stewart Falls.  It was the perfect date.  Hiking leaves plenty of time for talking, and we had a wonderful conversation from the bottom to the top, and then from the top to the bottom.  Some of my favorite things about Ken were things I learned on this hike.  His fascination and passion for politics that started in the 2nd grade (really, this is probably the cutest story ever), his desire for and experiences of travel, and the most impacting for both of us -- our mutual love of foreign food.  We should have just called it then, we were meant to be.  But of course, being the reasonable people that we are, we didn't.

This is us on our very first date!

It was a wonderful first date, but I was still unsure.  I mean, I could tell this guy was amazing, but I also knew that he lived in Provo!  I just couldn't see the logistics.  I thought, "You can't get to know someone and date them from a distance at the very start...that's crazy."

Rewind

Tessa had told me a lot about her co-worker, Ken.  I'd heard him mentioned various times over the last year, and her request to set me up with him became more convincing throughout the year.  He was one of her fellow TA's and, along with Tessa, aspiring to go to law school.  Tessa told me about how dedicated he was to school and how much he studied.  I'll be honest, I was quite intimidated.  She told me how he was just the kindest, nicest boy.  She insisted that we would get along wonderfully, and started scheming ways for us to meet.  

At the end of April, Tessa hosted a waffle party.  I was to feign ignorance -- to be completely unaware of this plan.  This being the case, I used my role of photographer to approach this table of boys.  

Not many couples have the very moment of their meeting captured!

I sat down, we all played a few games, and just talked and laughed.  It was a great time, and by the end of the night, I decided that Ken was someone who I would really like to get to know.  Luckily, he thought the same thing.