Love Story: Part 3 - The End of the Beginning

Time to wrap up this novel.

Upon returning to life in Utah, working for $10 an hour—mind you, the Captain and I continued to text through the weekend. Monday morning, after a text that I guess he thought would be easier to answer in a real conversation, he called me. I think that was the first time we spoke on the phone. I was getting ready for work and, thanks to the two-hour time difference, he was already at work and between patients. We communicated sporadically via text, facebook and phone the next couple weeks, but he still talks about the time that I “answered on a date”. I didn’t really answer the phone, but I saw that he was calling and made an excuse to go out to my car so I could call him back. Looking back, I guess that wasn’t very nice to the guy I was out with, but it was a weird situation anyway (he was crashing at the house of a guy I had gone out with a couple weeks before, and another guy who I had some history with came over while we were making dinner and lingered for awhile—dating in the small Mormon world can get quite strange and complicated).


Once the Captain got to Texas for pre-deployment training and such, I think we were talking every day. We had our first “skype date,” (it was really a google video chat date, but that doesn’t roll off the keys as well) which happened to be the first time I video chatted with anyone—ever. It took some getting used to, but the connection was good and picture and audio usually came in pretty clear (can’t say the same for the connection to Iraq). We even had a video chat “dance party”, but I felt so awkward I just sat in the desk chair and moved my shoulders. During his second of three weeks at Fort Hood, I got a text from him saying they were giving them a three-day weekend. We started talking about the possibility of him coming to Utah to “visit his friends and brother” and maybe we could hang out too? I got really excited and very unnaturally forward, trying to make a trip to Utah irresistible. I promised water skiing, a place to stay, even a car so he wouldn’t have to rent one. I don’t know what got into me. I was really insistent that he come out. I guess I felt that we had nothing to lose and I was a little bored with my current life.

He got a standby pass from a friend who works for an airline and took the shuttle to the airport after he was done with his training on Thursday. There were massive storms in the south and flights through Dallas and Houston were being delayed and rerouted. The first flight was full, as were the second and third flights that night. He was smart and took a sleeping bag to camp out and try again the next morning. We talked on the phone, getting more and more excited for the weekend, trying to keep the others morale up. As fate would have it, there was no luck the next day either. By noon we gave up and he took a cab back to the base. I was tending my nieces that weekend while Collin and Liz were in Puerto Rico for Liz’s job, and very busy keeping them alive and safe. Disappointed, yes, but bored, no. The Captain on the other hand had nothing to do but think about how much fun he could’ve been having in Utah with me . Sunday night after the girls were snug in their beds, we were talking and admitting our disappointment. They say nothing good happens after midnight, but I’m not so sure anymore because Tim asked, “What if you came here? If I flew you out, would you come to Texas?” Of course! What else did I have going on? We started to make those plans. I was to call my work the next morning to see if they would let me take Friday off and I would fly Thursday evening and spend a couple days living the army life, bunk up with some army lady and spend a few days with a solider before he flew away to the war zone. Sounds kind of fun, right?

Before I could call into work, I got a text update saying the army was giving them another three-day weekend and that the Captain had decided he was coming to Utah and buying a ticket this time. Great news! You can read about the weekend here for a reminder.

We packed quite a bit in just a few short days, the promised water ski trip where we both were impressed by the others skills; went camping where we couldn’t find our friends and ended up just pulling over somewhere and sleeping until it started raining on us around 5 am then driving back home; he met my mom and my dad and three of my siblings; kissed for the first time (scandalous, I know!). I calculated once that we had spent about 48 hours together in person until he got back a fact that he did not like hearing. What happens when two people who are extremely against long-distance relationships, both having pretty bad experiences with LDRs, decide they like each other but one lives in Utah and the other in Iraq? Ha. You have to admit, it’s a little ironic.

Thank goodness for technology. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, God knows what He’s doing. And, there is no way He did not have a hand in this one. Example #1 – the Captain claims he’s an aggressive and intense dater. Oh man, that would’ve scared me off so fast. Problem eliminated by the fact that we could not date for the first six months. Example #2 – I, historically, have a hard time communicating my needs and wants once romantically involved. I turn into a spineless jellyfish. Problem eliminated by the fact that the only thing we could do was communicate, whether via handwritten letters, emails, gchat, video chat. I was forced to communicate. I had no choice. Then there’s the story of the vision board, which is another post itself and possibly a book. More going on here than two people just randomly meeting and falling in love. But, everyone probably says that.