Day 1

Breathe in.
Breathe out.
In.
Out..
Whew!!
Here we go.
The love of my life is now in the MTC.  What a crazy mix of emotions.  I am so very proud of him!! He is the first of 5 in his family to serve a mission.  What a great thing to choose to do with his life.  I know he will serve the Lord with honor and bring so many people joy and peace with the gospel he will be teaching in Australia.
Eh.  Australia.  8009.5 miles away. For 3 weeks he will be literally blocks from me. And after that....8009.5 miles... It's a good thing too.  I know if he was in the US I would probably find a way to see him.  But Australia is good.  It's far away. Far. Far. Far away.  And pretty safe.  I don't have to worry if he'll get some strange disease or anything like that. Mail takes 3-4 weeks. So not too bad.  A letter sent every week should be good...
Australia is so far away.
But I can do this. 730 days. 96 weeks. 24 months. However you choose to look at it.  One of my little cousins gave me the idea to make a fleece blanket for Thomas.  Every month tie on another square.  So by the time he comes home he will have a full size blanket.  Cute, huh?  And I have a list of 22 Temples to visit in 24 months.  Also there is a blog with ideas of something to do for every month.  Plus going to school is going to help.  Kaylee and I are training for a few races this summer so that will be good too.
Every post I write about waiting for Thomas I'll add in a little story or a favorite memory from our time together.
I guess I should start off with the night I met him.
December 3rd 2011
My girl friend, Raven, had the biggest crush on this guy from her work and she wanted my stamp of approval. She found this dance at a local apartment complex that was a masquerade dance and she asked him to it.  Her other girl friend was coming to give her stamp as well.  Raven had to drive and her friend, Lindsey had a dress so large that she had to sit up front.  That left me in the back.  The entire time I was kinda not happy.  I really did not want to sit next to Raven's crush.  He lived somewhere in Provo and we couldn't find his house!  Raven's GPS didn't work nor did Lindsey's.  Only mine worked which I still find odd to this day.  We pull up to his house and he's standing there waiting for us.  He climbs in the back seat and Raven begins to introduce us to each other.
Raven : "HI!  Are you having a good night? Well this is Lindsey and that's Becca."
Raven's crush : "Hiya! Thanks for picking me up guys!  Nice to meet you Lindsey and Becca.  My name's Thomas.  So... how old are you guys?"
Lindsey : "I turn 20 in June!"
Me : "I'll be 21 in April..."
Thomas : "Wow..... you're old...."
Me : 0_o "EXCUSE ME???  Don't you know you should respect your elders?"
How rude right?  Well for the rest of the drive Thomas and I sat in the back seat of Raven's car just talking, teasing and kinda flirting.  I'll never forget the feeling I got when he climbed into that car.  I was ready to give attitude and make this kids night awful.  If my friend was crushing on him, I had to make sure he was worth her love.  But just a single moment with him and it was like I was falling through the air.  I had a hard time breathing, it was like my lungs forgot how to work.  I had goose bumps all over my body.  And yet, through all of that the biggest thing was that I felt peace within me.  When he would look over at me I couldn't help but smile.  And I was just myself.  Nothing else.  It was like the mask I have worn my entire life meant nothing to him because he could see right through it. He could see straight to my heart and at that moment my heart was his.