Well Nakies, it happened.
ALL OF IT.
Tommy drove up in that blessed Lord of the Rings green minivan and my life changed.
Can you super nova if you aren't technically a star?
I'm a believer.
I'm going to give you the shortened yet sweet version because, like I said, all of everything has happened.
Let's start at the beginning. With the occasional side note.
Get comfy.
Guess what happened between Tommy asking to hold my hand the night he got back and Tommy asking me to marry him?
13 days.
Whoa whoa CALM DOWN!! I know it's crazy!
But between spending every day together discussing extremely important things, getting to know each other again, spending almost three years in some sort of head-over-heels-in-love relationship, and praying and receiving confirmations and guidance throughout all of that time;
I think our almost 3 year run has been exactly as it should have been. And together forever sounds like the best life-plan I've ever heard of.
Back to the story.
He proposed in a parking lot.
: )
It was completely unplanned. But after spending over an hour talking one night, much to his surprise, Tommy found that everything that he'd wanted to do and talk about before proposing; had been done and talked about. So much to my shock and surprise, he got down on one knee and proposed. (I know, I know you all saw it coming, and so did we but I was thinking we'd at least make it to september...) Ah, truth be told Nakies, I wouldn't have had it any other way. It was perfect.
Tommy and I (mostly I) decided to not tell anyone for a week so we could let it soak in for ourselves first.
And then we promptly left the state with the Bushes for a week of vacation.
Can I just tell you, I have seen my fair share of beaches, but none has captivated me as the Oregonian beach we went to.
BE-A-U-TIFUL.
The last day we were there was a saturday (we had to get back early because Tommy was giving a talk in church that sunday), and that afternoon we stopped by an awesome antique store. I was just wandering around minding my own business when I saw a dress
...a wedding dress.
And I thought to myself, 'No. Carly, you are crazy. You just got engaged. Keep walking. No way are you going to find a wedding dress in a random antique store in Oregon. All wedding dresses in thrift/antique shops are even worse on a body than they are on a hanger anyway. You haven't even told anyone yet, you can't go trying on dresses.'
Ah, but you know what happened Naked Apes. Because you are smart. And you know how relentlessly curious I am.
So I ducked into their "dressing room". [The space beneath the stairwell with a torn sheet acting as a 'cover'.]
And put on an old, handmade wedding dress
that fit me perfectly. what?!
So I did the only sane thing a shocked girl can do.
I changed back into my clothes and went to go find Tommy.
We ended up buying and sneaking a wedding dress from a hole in the wall awesome antique store with minimal discovery, while there with all of the Bushes and his parents.
:) Life does not slow down when a Tommy-boy comes back from a mission.
Sunday Tommy asked my dad (a little out of order, but all well), and with his approval we told our two wonderful families. Close friends and extended family were told in the days soon after that.
And POOF! We were getting married and planning a wedding.
We went to reception locations, brainstormed ideas for colors, decorations, activities, dates, etc. Tommy dragged me to ring stores, and I was picky. We decided December was best, and waited without much patience for the Seattle temple to open up again so we could find out when it was available.
Life was hectic but blissful as we spent those 1.5 weeks searching for jobs and planning a wedding and future life together. The temple opened on August 30th, and with a phone call we discovered it was much more open than reception halls would be, so on the 31st we drove around checking out more locations/availability.
Then September 1st happened. You never know what a new day will bring.
I said my morning prayers and in them consulted my Heavenly Father, simply checking with him about our getting married in December. And to my surprise I was prompted in another direction. To go to school for the fall semester and not get married in December, but some unknown time after that.
That was a lot to chew.
But thankfully, Tommy was only 5 minutes away instead of half a world away. And we were able to talk, sort out, go to the temple together, and prayerfully seek out the answers and divine guidance and comfort we needed.
Tommy was amazing. Completely supportive the entire time. He helped me to go, again. I love this man.
The fall term at that point was to start in 7 days, and it is not a term I'm enrolled for. So I began the process of getting accepted into a program at school that allows you to attend all year round. It is a difficult process. One that requires a flawlessly planned out schedule for the entire coming year, several drafts and redrafts, checks and double checks, signatures and more signatures, approval and more approval.
Given that approval, there would still be the issue of getting accepted into all of the necessary classes to make all of that planning work when everyone (even the first semester freshmen) had already been allowed to fill up their desired classes.
There was also the issue of finding an available room when contracts are generally purchased months in advance, with Fall being the busiest semester of the year. On top of this (strangely enough), this Fall there was an unusually great deficit of womens housing, so much so in fact that several mens apartments had to be converted to womens to accommodate.
But God makes the impossible possible.
On Wednesday September 8th, with the help of so many people, I was able to get on a plane and go to Salt Lake Utah.
By the time I had picked up my luggage from the baggage claim, miraculous opportunities had occurred and I was practically handed a place to sleep for the next two nights, and a Fall contract in a newly converted mens-to-womens appartment.
I got on a bus and made it to Rexburg that night.
For the next two days I attended all of the classes I hoped to get into, and meanwhile heard nothing from the Admissions office who (it turns out) were working hard to get me through all the hoops I needed to jump. After several more miracles and wonderful people heeding promptings through their hectic lives, I was accepted into school that Friday night.
Meanwhile, back at home, my parents left on a vacation to celebrate their 25th anniversary and Tommy graciously began taking care of my two younger siblings.
It took about a week to secure all of my classes, but all were secured. And everything necessary was done so that I could stay and have everything I needed.
It is now the beginning of the second full week of school and Tommy and I both feel like it has been yet another lifetime since I left. But in that slow time we have learned many things, and I know that I for one have been greatly strengthened and edified by my father in heaven. It is clear to me that I have much to learn, but for the care attending both of us, I am extremely grateful.
My beloved friends, I am young but I have come to know that God knows everything, and that he loves you because you are his children. These two truths enable his guidance to be perfect and always for the eternal good of his children. For you. I know that following him with exactness will bring you the greatest happiness in this life and the next, and that there are no greater blessings than those our loving Father in Heaven wants to give you, and can give you, when you choose to do his will and enter into and keep promises with him that will enable you one day become as he is.
N.A's, I bought a slightly used but repaired pair of converse shoes from an antique store during that week and a half in August when Tommy and I were still planning a December wedding. I wasn't looking for shoes, but there they were. They are very light pink high tops with mint green edging. Nakies, if you know me at all, you know I'm not a pink girl, I do not like it on my person. But I love those shoes. Strangely enough: they suit me. I think they are unbelievably cute, and they are now my favorite shoes.
Funnily enough, these shoes remind me of Tommy. He loves converse high tops and he loves pink. And when I met him, I was not looking for him either. But somehow I am in a new life. A life where pink shoes suit me and are my favorite and I get to marry the man that I love who is also my favorite and suits me unbelievably well. When you align your will with Gods; Life fits. Even when it's new and scary. It's always better than the life that you had, and it's always steering you towards an eternity of changes for the better.
I didn't get a new summer dress Life or a suit of armor. I got a means to walk a rocky path. I got shoes. Shoes in which I have been shown the best path, and am choosing to follow it. Shoes I get to keep and seek Jesus with. Shoes that have helped me to grow as a person. Shoes that increase my potential. Almost the same as the shoes "Guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher." (But I get those for wedding shoes.)
Nakies, find your shoes!
If you've found them, treasure them.
Grow in God with those that you love
so that you can keep them forever,
and greet God with them by your side.
Even in this new life, the most important things are still true.
Thank you: to all of the Naked Apes who have been so supportive, and are even now at the ready to help us prepare for a wedding floating in the near future, and the continuing life after that. I feel so thoroughly welcomed! Your offers of assistance mean more to me than I can say, and I am keeping them all fresh in my mind. As soon as we can get our feet under us a little better, hopefully we can come together and plan. I'm sorry we don't have more that we can tell you, but we know all that is necessary for now, and the rest will come later as we continue to follow God. I have no room nor cause for doubt.
I love you all so very much.
~ Carly
p.s. On behalf of distance-heavy loved ones everywhere, I'd like to give a special shout out to Naked Ape Alexander Graham Bell for getting the cell phone rolling so soon. You sir, are wonderful.
