19 Months

Today (Feb 8th, 2008) Kjersti and I have been married for 19 months. Every month on the eighth we go to Chili's to celebrate. I'm not sure why we chose Chili's. We both like the food, I guess. I always get the same thing. Kj usually gets something different every time. I think we like it because it's nothing special. I think we like to feel like we don't need to do something fancy special to celebrate. We always have a great time even if a baby is crying or something. Plus Chili's is always the same, which helps us reflect on how we've changed since the last time, like Holden Caulfield's favorite indian statues at the museum. Also we both like to people-watch and usually there are some interesting characters at Chili's.

Anyway, I thought I'd write a little (or a lot) about how Kj and I met and how we came to be married. Most people don't really know the story. I think our parents don't really know the story. Some people think we started dating at a long distance and were engaged within six months. Some people think we have been together since high school. Truth is, both groups of people are sort of right.

My senior year of high school -- at Brighton High School in Sandy, UT -- I took this German exchange student to the Christmas dance. A group of us all went to dinner, and then to the dance. Kjersti was with my friend Pete. That's when we met. We didn't talk to each other much, but we stared at each other a lot.

I had this architecture class that year. I had senioritis so I had a hard time taking the class seriously. In fact, since it was right after my lunch I usually didn't come at all. But one day I was there because it was snowing outside and I couldn't get my Geo out of the parking lot, so I ate in the lunch room and went to class. I had "A" lunch, and Kjersti had "B" lunch, which meant she went to lunch when I went to class. Anyway, my teacher was her track coach. She and her friend needed a microwave to heat up something, and they knew Mr. Wiscomb had one in his classroom, so they came in. I sat right next to the door and when I saw her come in I -- well, I don't want to get too corny -- but this was the first time I'd seen her since the dance.

She and her friend walked to the back room and tried not to disturb the class too much while Whiskey was lecturing. A few seconds later I stood up and followed her into the back room and went right up to her and said, "How you doin?" or something equally cocky (I was a senior, after all). So we started dating a little bit, nothing really serious.

Then I graduated. That summer we continued to date off-and-on. I think we were both dating other people too, which in retrospect is kind of stupid. I don't think people should date multiple people at the same time if they really really like one of them. But then again we were in high school. Fall came and I went to college (but I still lived at home). Kjersti and her family moved to Idaho and that kind of ended everything. However, we emailed each other from time to time.

Years went by. Five, to be exact. I did my computer science and math degrees; Kjersti finished high school and started college in southern Utah. She went to France for six months. Strangely, while she was in France we started emailing again. Shortly after she got back from France I emailed her and asked her if she was ever going to be in Salt Lake. She came up during the Christmas break and stayed with a friend. We went on a group date... we immediately hit it off again. I felt more like myself than I had in the past 5 years.

Once again, I was a cocky senior. This time in college. I was applying for graduate school and working full-time at a programming job. Kjersti lived three and a half hours away, was going to school and working full-time with disabled people. We'd take turns driving to see each other every week. Sometimes I didn't show up to work on Monday morning cuz I couldn't get myself to leave. Shortly after we started dating again I got an acceptance letter from Stanford. It was kind of bitter sweet because I had to go and I knew it would separate us again. But we had the summer so we just had as much fun as we could.

We did a lot of stuff that summer, but maybe I'll leave those stories for other posts. September came way too fast, and I packed my Jeep and she came with me to help me move-in at Stanford. Then she flew home and I was all alone. I couldn't stand it. I was losing her again. We made a deal to talk to each other every night at 10pm. And we did. Sometimes for hours.

October came and Kjersti's 22nd birthday was approaching. I flew back to Utah to celebrate it with her. I had a few presents sent to her -- she told me once in high school that she really wanted a globe, and somehow she still didn't have one. I brought the ring with me in my pocket. I got a reservation at the Zion National Park lodge (pretty close to where she was living). On her birthday we went and hiked up to this beautiful place called Angel's Landing, which I recommend if you ever go to Zion. At the top there were all these people, so we just sat down and ate wheat thins and took in the view. I was so nervous. I wanted us to be alone and all these people were around. I felt idiotic for not thinking about that. At this point I was certain she was going to say no. Eventually the sun started going down, so people left to hike back down. Finally we were alone. Some cheesy stuff happened that ended with her saying, "Yes!", jumping on me, and almost sending us both tumbling off the cliff. A random guy showed up at that moment, took a picture of us, and left. Then we hiked down in the dark, which was kind of dangerous.

Anyway, we got engaged in October and she wasn't going to graduate until June. So we continued the long distance relationship, but it felt so much better knowing we were both committed to this thing. June came, the wedding was planned for July, and I got an internship at Microsoft in Seattle. Once again, she came out and helped me pack up the Jeep and move up there. Then she flew home. A month later I took a week off my internship, flew in the night before the wedding, got a wedding license barely before the office closed, and the next day we were finally married. :) We got a moving truck for all the stuff we both still had in Utah and drove it up to Seattle. Finally, we both lived in the same city, which hadn't happened since high school! We had a great time in Seattle, I finished up my internship, Kjersti enjoyed not having to go to school or work or anything. We rented a trailer, moved back to Stanford, and immediately left for a honeymoon in Japan. I finished my masters degree and started work at PowerReviews in April of 2007. Life has been great ever since!

So this post was pretty long. I'm sure no one will read it all the way through, but now when people ask me to clarify how Kjersti and I met, I can just send them here.

And for anyone who's interested: here's the video that played at our wedding. Baby pictures and all that cute stuff.