Day One

My first memory of Jason is from church. We were in the same BYU singles ward, and our ward met in the Benson building. Our "chapel" was a science lecture hall complete with a giant periodic table on the wall. We met for the first time around April of 2003, and I remember looking down from the seats of the room after church and seeing Jason reviewing a list of some sort and looking up into the crowd. He was the elder's quorum president of the ward, and he was probably looking for someone to talk to them about home teaching. I remember he had on a nice looking suit and glasses.

That's it. Pretty remarkable, huh? Of course, now in my mind I picture swarms of people faded out around him as he looked up into the crowd at me, and the music swelled as our eyes met for the first time.... But no. It wasn't anything spectacular, but that's what I remember.

Over the next few months, we started to hang out as friends- we saw Pirates of the Caribbean together with a huge group of people from our ward/apartment complex, and one night we went with a mutual friend to Ben and Jerry's (where Jason claimed he'd never been before). At that point I hadn't really been involved in the ward. Jason, on the other hand, was Mr. Popularity. I was always impressed that he knew everyone and was so nice to everyone.

So we knew of each other and that was about it. Then, one fateful September night, my car broke down. The hood was jammed, and in spite of taking it to three different mechanics, I couldn't find anyone who could fix it. Then the battery died. It was the night of ward FHE, and I asked a guy if he could me try to fix my car. He said yes, and suggested that we ask Jason to help because he knew a lot about cars (fast forward to present day: ha! Ha! Ha!) A few other "helpful" guys came along, and all swarmed around my car, each trying to figure out how to get the hood popped. Jason got the hood open and set up the battery to charge overnight. Most of the other guys had lost interest by this point, but again, I remember being so impressed with Jason and his willingness to jump up and serve right away. In my memory he was even sitting on a couch, hitting on another girl, but hopped up as soon as I asked him for help. What a great quality for a future husband!

The next day, we drove to the auto store to buy a new battery for my car. Another guy tagged along, but Jason quickly got rid of him by putting him to work changing the battery while he chatted with me. I told Jason I needed to repay him for all of his help and we dropped off the other guy and headed to the Malt Shop in his car, the Cougar (oh, the epic saga of the Cougar! That is a post for another day).

We ordered cheese fries and two shakes, sat down in the corner booth by the door, and proceeded to have the most awkward, uninteresting date either of us had been on in a long time. I distinctly remember thinking, "Well, he'll make a good friend, but man, let's get this over with!" (In Jason's defense, he says he was thinking the same thing.) So we headed out to his car and he offered to let me drive it. I'm not a total car-girl, but it was shiny and fast, and I drove it up to Bridal Veil Falls. We parked it and sat on the hood and started talking under the stars... and things started to get dreamy.

We talked and talked for hours, and when the night was over, I was enchanted. It was the best last first date I could have ever imagined. I went to bed hoping that Jason felt remotely the same way about me, hoping that he would call me the next day.

And he did.

But that, too, is a post for another day.