You Can't HANDLE The Truth!

I guess it is finally time to tell you about the handsome hunk I'm in love with.  Some of you have been pretty confused about the recent events in my life, so I thought I would shed a little light on things.

Many of you may remember this post.  I think that was the point that I had basically decided to just be happy.  Be happy with me, with whatever came my way, with whatever DIDN'T come my way.  It was when I decided to just work on being okay with being 'Just Jody' as this blog has been called for so long...Its when I had finally learned what Heavenly Father had been trying to teach me for YEARS!

So even some of my closest friends have been caught off guard by my engagement to this hotty.

So here are the nitty gritty details.  There are some things that are a little too precious of experiences for me to share on such a public forum, so I will skim over them, but this is, for the most part, 'Our Story'. Enjoy!

I met Tyler sometime around the end of July last year.  I had seen him around, he had actually come to a bonfire I threw two summers before, and I remember thinking he was cute from across the way, but we never talked so I never really thought anything of it until he showed up at my house with his girlfriend at the moment, a friend of mine (woops!).  He and I talked for a bit, I liked his smile, I loved that he spoke Spanish, I loved that he was hilarious, and I hated that he was taken.  That's about all I remember thinking.  

Fast forward a few months.  Around October, I randomly remember wondering about him, so I called up my brother-in-law and asked.  He said that they had broken up and we talked about it for a bit.  I don't remember exactly what was said, but I remember telling him at some point, 'Let it be known, I think that Tyler Best is cute.'  He laughed and said that he would keep that in mind.

When I went home for Christmas, I had been seeing this guy down here in Houston.  It was pretty new, pretty casual, but I was interested.  Still, for whatever reason, Tyler crossed my mind again.  I started prepping for the 3rd annual Neck and Nog (my annual Christmas party involving turtlenecks and egg nog, get your mind out of the gutter!) and Paul (Brother in law) called and asked if I needed any help getting it together.  My response? ' Your only job is to make sure that Tyler Best is at this party.'  He laughed, and said he would do what he could, but no promises.

The night of my party was crazy.  Anchorage decided to have more than a half a foot of snow fall that night, so as 8pm came and went, no one showed up...I was pretty bummed/embarassed to have thrown a party in which no one attended.  An hour later, people started showing up.  I remember seeing Paul's jeep come down the driveway and get a little excited.  Enter all 6'7 feet of Tyler.  I tried to play it cool and not immediately rush up and say hello, and I was a little nervous.  Eventually we said hello and I remember he complimented me on the paint job inside my parents house. (cute)  We had tons of things going on, including italian sodas.  Tyler practically forced me to make him one because he 'didn't know how'.  I showed him, but at least one other time that night that I can remember he asked me to make him another one because he 'couldn't make them as well as I could.'  We flirted.  A lot.

As the party started to die down, we decided to watch a movie, I plopped down next to Tyler and before I knew it, his arm was around me.  The movie ended, and like a good little hostess I walked everyone to the front door.  Tyler and I said goodbye with an audience, so he didn't ask me for my phone number.  I was a little disappointed, and even remember sending a text to Paul (BIL) saying so.  The next day I got this message on facebook:

December 23, 2011

Tyler 

• I was thinking since neither of us have seen the new Sherlock Holmes movie, we could catch a late showing either tonight or tomorrow night, before I leave. Your Mom can't come though because she has already seen it. I don't have your number and I'm not sure how often you check this dingus so if you catch it great if not, another time, another place, two other people, it could have been magniflorious.
  ***-***-****
  
  

I laughed.  Due to family commitments and him leaving, we didn't end up going to that movie, but that's really where it all started.  We were constantly texting each other.  He made me laugh, and I loved that about him.  We could also be serious.  I think we had been texting for about a week and a half when we started talking on the phone.  We would just talk, talk about anything, about nothing.  It was just nice to have someone.  Someone who wanted to talk to me, who wanted to know what was going on in my life.  Who was genuinely concerned about me.  The more we talked, the more serious conversations were mixed in with our ridiculousness.  I felt like I had known him forever.  He knew more about me than just about anyone I had ever dated, and we had never even been on a 'proper date'.

I don't remember at what point we started Skyping, but we did.  The first night was two hours. That began night after night of laughing, staying up WAY too late, chatting, talking about what we wanted from life/love/family.  I remember one particular conversation that lasted until 2 am where we let it all out, and instead of feeling judged or small, I felt empowered, I felt cared about.  

My birthday is where he took things to the next level.  I was at work when I BEAUTIFUL bouquet of yellow tulips showed up.  I glanced at the card and just saw that it was signed 'Your Mom'.  I thought, 'Awww, my mom sent me flowers!' and didn't think anything more of it until a few hours later when some flowers showed up...from my mom.  I thought, 'Oh man they must have made a mistake!'  But then I read the card more carefully...

'My Pampered Baby bottom, You are my favorite, I love your eyes. I hope you are keeping in contact with that handsome young man from OR, Love, Your Mom'

None of those things were things my mom would ever say to me, and it took re-reading it a few times to realize that the tulips weren't from my mom, they were from Tyler!  I text him and thanked him profusely.  

That was basically it, I was sold.  We were texting all day every day, we were skyping for hours every night and it was the happiest I can remember being in...well forever.  I came home from church one day, looked at my roommate and said, 'I think I am going to marry Tyler.' Either that night or the next day I called my parents and said the same thing.  As Tyler and I talked more, we started talking about moves and jobs and how we would make it all work, and though it has been hard, we have done it.

There is more to the story than that, MANY many prayers and a couple of very sweet spiritual experiences helped us both feel like it was a good and correct decision.  A couple of really funny experiences also helped me decide.  I am so happy, and the only way I could be happier is if I were already in Alaska and we were already married.

I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and for the realization that there truly was a plan laid out specifically for me and that 'In the due time of the Lord' I was able to figure it out.  I know that God lives, and that this is his plan for me.  LOVE MY LIFE!!