The Perfect Set-up

Last Saturday, my brother attended a missionary reunion for his mission to Ecuador. It was important for him to attend this one because it could possibly be the lat time his mission president would be able to attend. I guess he’s getting up there in age and doesn’t feel like he will be able to travel here for the reunions any more. Kari kept begging him to not go because she hates having to explain to all the RMs and their wives why they don’t have any children yet and that they are both still going to school.

They went in spite of her pleading. Aaron met up with one of the RMs who was a native to Ecuador and who now lives in Salt Lake. They did not serve together, but they knew each other through companions that served with the other. They were discussing Temple attendance, which was probably spawned by the mission president’s comments about his experiences as a Temple President for many years. We shall call this RM Oliver. He shared how he and his girlfriend at the time used to attend the temple every week. But when they broke up, he found it difficult to go alone, but he still attends about once a month.

I must say that I agree with him. It is very humbling to attend the temple as a single person. I generally go on my own, instead of with a ward or group. The few times that I have gone with a Young Adult Ward, it seems that I wasn’t as self conscious. But, even so, there is a constant marital thread throughout the Temple ceremonies.

Kari thought of me as they were talking and she totally talked me up to him. She told him and I am hot and that I am an amazing dancer, etc. He became interested and they all decided that they would arrange for us to meet. He gave them his email address and phone number to give to me. Aaron and Kari were so excited to tell me about him that they called me from their cell phone as they were leaving to tell me about him.

When they got home they shared with me a picture of him that they took secretly with their cell phone. From what I could tell, he seemed handsome. Kari assured me that he is haute. They went on to tell me how he likes to salsa dance and he works in accounting and he almost just bought a house, etc.

So, of course I am interested to find out what he is about. Sunday morning everyone was asking me if I have contacted him yet. Was I supposed to call him in the night or something? No, of course I hadn’t contacted him yet. But, I had already taken a picture of myself when I got home from church because people keep telling me that my pictures don’t do me justice or that they make me look old. I didn’t realize they were so bad, so I just took something different hoping they might look half way decent. Everyone just calm down. So, I sent him an email including my best new picture, first thing after lunch and added him to my contacts on yahoo. He came on for a few minutes. We chatted just long enough to say hello, good bye. He has to wake up early in the morning, but he promised he would be on the next evening when he got home from the gym.

I found out quite a bit about him from chatting with him. And everything impressed me. I learned that he converted to the church when he was 18, then served a mission at 19. He is the only convert in his family. He has lived in about 6 other countries and he likes America the best. He has written 4 books. He can spell. He has a good job. He loves kids. I told him that I have been married before and he asked if I have any kids. I told him one and he asked how old. He seemed pretty enthusiastic about my having a son and made a comment about what a fun age three is, then said but all the ages are fun.

He told me that he wants to serve another mission and that he wants to be a Temple President. He was telling me that he is looking for a semi-large house on some nice property with a creek running through it. He says the reason he is looking for a house is because he has qualified to become a Foster Father, except that he will need to be in a house to do so. He said he has wanted to have 13 kids, but he feels it is too late now so he wants to be a foster parent and adopt.

I was continually impressed and I told him so. His response was that he is not telling me these things to impress me. I could tell that because it was only with my asking that he gave me more thorough answers. I got personal and asked him about any girlfriends in the picture or in his case, why there weren’t any. He told me how he was in love with this girl several years ago. When it didn’t work out, he was heart-broken for three years. He is only recently starting to date again, but even so he doesn’t do much of it. Compared to myself who just broke up with my fiancé two months ago and have been on I think 6 dates already, I felt a little cold-hearted.

I asked him what he is looking for. He went on with something about having some one that is a friend, that he can be open and honest with, etc. I regret that I don’t remember more specifically what he said because he said it very eloquently. I think I just brushed it aside thinking, eh yeah, wouldn’t that be nice.

Then he asked me what I am looking for. I told him I am having a hard time find just an active member of the church who has a job, a car, and can speak English…then to top it off with my undying love of dancing. I will be doing good to find just those qualities. He found this pretty amusing and told me that I am funny. I laughed with him, but I told him I wished I was joking.

He became conscientious of his spelling after I said that. I assured him that he had already passed that test. I told him how amazed I was how some American’s can get through High School, some even college and still have bad grammar. Kari says that one can hardly detect his accent either.

So, basically he seems like Superman to me. I was waiting for him to ask me out, and Aaron and Kari kept asking if he had yet too. They suggested inviting him over to dinner some time for us to meet. I told them I would prefer to meet with him one on one because I didn’t want to have the pressure of the family while trying to make a first impression. They seemed to understand, but Aaron felt that he might have been waiting for him to set something up for us, per their conversation at the reunion and also knowing the Ecuadorian custom of the man asking the permission of the father to date the daughter. So he takes the liberty of inviting him to spend Easter Sunday with us. I guess I’ll be going along with that now.

Tomorrow is Easter and I feel like I have been trying to get my life in order in one day. Aside from walking to the church with Guy for a little Easter Egg Hunt, I have been working around the house all day…putting the frame under Guy’s new bed mattress, cleaning up the mess I made getting the frame down in the garage loft when the florescent light fixture slid down from the top and the bulbs shattered all over the floor, changing and washing Guy’s comforter and sheets and cleaning the wall from the pink salt water taffy that he was hiding in his bed and spit out because it was too hot that stuck be between his comforter and the wall, washing and putting away about 5 loads of laundry, trying to stash the boxes of about 200 car magazines in the play room that I have been posting, cleaning the bathroom (including hanging the clock and pictures that have been sitting on the shelf in there since we moved in), filing papers in the filing cabinet that we picked up after the egg hunt, coloring Easter eggs, filling eggs with candy. If only there was one other item of business that I could correct in a few hours.

I kind of feel like this is my last shot at finding a member of the church to marry and I also feel like I have already spoiled my chances. I don’t want start out a relationship by keeping secrets, yet there’s one that I would rather not tell him.

I guess we will see what tomorrow brings…