The Coolest Bike

After I got done writing a letter to my nephew on his mission I got the urge to pull out all the letters that Nate and I wrote each other while he was away at BYU after his mission.  They looked so sad out in the garage in a dust covered box so I decided to get them all out and put them in order in a binder.  I am so grateful that we have this documentation of our friendship that eventually turned to courtship  that lead to marriage.  This was also the time in my life when I was investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (which Nate didn't find out about until he came home for spring break).  

I just kind of skimmed over the first couple of lines in the letter before I put it in the binder and the 3rd letter he ever wrote me caught my eye.  It started out "hey good-lookin!"  I teased Nate about him calling me that so soon into our letter writing (we were just pen pals and I was sure he was going to get hitched in a millisecond being in the marriage capital of the world), but he reminded me that he called me that in high school too.  This caused him to take the letter from me and read it.  He was pleased with himself in what he wrote.  Here are his skills of analogy and boldness:

"How was the trip? Meet some fine-looking Mormon boys?  It's your destiny to marry one.  It's like when you're a kid and you get a bike for Christmas - and it's pretty cool and you love it but the neighbor kid gets an even cooler bike - of course you don't tell him that and you try to convince yourself that your bike is better but deep inside you want that bike.  The church is like that.  It's time somebody gave you a better bike.  In fact this is the best bike around and once you get it you don't have to ever worry about the neighbors getting a better one.  Someone as special as you deserves the very best bike the Lord can give.  The best thing about it is that all you have to do is ask and you can have it.  Christ delivers much better than Santa- (santa shafted me a couple of times) ..."  ~Feb 21 1993

Well, I did decide that I wanted the cooler and best bike around.  I was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on May 8, 1993.

I did find a fine-looking Mormon boy to marry on May 13, 1994.  He is my best friend, best analogy giver and bold proclaimer of the gospel who always saw the best in me and my potential and still does to this day.