26 years worth the wait...

For those of you who have not already heard, I am marrying Richard Lorenzen on July 29, 2010. I thought you might like a little background on how we met, got together, and why I love this boy so much. I think I may let him make a guest appearance on here and give his own version of our story, because as you know, there are always two sides Ü

The Story: (Julie's version) *warning- LONG POST, but I've edited it so its not too bad



Three years ago (May 2007), I moved back home to Mesa after finishing hair school. I began attending the ASU 7th ward, along with half of the other 23+ singles in the valley. I remember my first Sunday attending that ward thinking, "Wow, there are a TON of people in this ward." And I only knew a few of them. But I do remember hearing Richard's name called over the pulpit to be sustained in a calling and when I heard the name Lorenzen I thought, "Hey, I wonder if he's related to the Lorenzen's that grew up in my stake?" So I craned my neck to the back of the room where I saw Richard standing, and I knew right away there was probably no relation. (The Lorenzens I knew were all blondes). But that was the first time I remember hearing his name and seeing him. Months go by and I started dating a couple other people. I am sure Richard and I passed each other in the halls, and were at so many of the same activities together a lot that year I was in the 7th ward but we never spoke. (*Okay, he claims that introduced himself to me, or tried, and I blew him off...whatever).

I moved out of that ward in February 2008 and I don't remember seeing him again until January 2009. We were both at the East Valley Institute, and he was standing right behind me in the food line. Our mutual friend Cody, who everytime he saw me had to proclaim "How are you not married, I am going to make it my goal to get you married!" (ya, thanks but leave me alone) approached us and said, "Heeeyyyyyyyy, Julie you should meet my buddy Richard here!!" (wink wink, nudge nudge) Had it not been so awkward I am sure I would have been glad to stand there and oblige. But I was already having a bit of a rough day, I wasn't in a very social mood, and I wanted to tell Cody to bug off. So what did I do?...Yep, you guessed it. I said, "Hi Richard" and turned and left. It wouldn't have mattered who the guy was, he would have gotten blown off. And Richard was left standing there making a mental note not to ever try talking to me again.

The next month, Richard moved into the Eden Park Ward, where I had already been for a couple of months. It was a new ward, pretty small and just getting established. There was a good handful of people that I had known from the 7th ward though. One of those was Rebecca Spendlove (Spendy). Spendy was the RS counselor over Enrichment (RS mtgs) and I was on the committee. A few months later (August) I was called as RS 1st counselor and so we spent a lot of time after meetings talking about our love lives, interests, etc...About a month later, Richard was out of a relationship and he and Spendy were at a bonfire with some friends. Sometime during the night, Spendy brought up different girls that she thought he should take out. The minute my name was brought up, you can guess what his response was. "Spendy, I have tried talking to that girl a couple of times now and both times I definitely got the vibe that she was not interested." But somehow she talked him into it and he told her that if she talked to me and I would be open to it that he would ask me out.

I'm almost positive that it was the next day (Sunday) that I got to church early for some reason. I set my stuff down on one of the front side pews and went to go get a drink of water. I noticed that the only other person in the chapel was Richard Lorenzen, sitting in his usual spot on the row between the chapel and the first overflow. We made eye contact, and I remember I had this quick thought, "Julie, you've known who this guy is for a while now. You should be nice and go up and say hi to him." The minute I decided to do it I had this instant burst of excitement. I gave him a big smile, touched his knee as I walked by and said, "Hey Richard!" You can BET he was taken back.

Fast forward to the following Sunday. All four of us girls were sitting there after our RS mtg ended and Spendy out of nowhere asks, "Julie, would you ever go out with Richard Lorenzen? I thought it was funny she would ask me that since I had just said hi to him the week before and had made up my mind to be more open-minded. I thought from what I had seen, there was no reason why I shouldn't go out with Richard. He seemed like a great guy even though I didn't know him well. Bottom line, I was scared. I was tired of dating and I was scared. For those of you who have been in the single scene for a while, you can probably understand where I was coming from. BUT...I had made that commitment to myself to being more open-minded and I was stickin to it. So I gave her the green light.

I think it was a couple weeks later that Richard had his housewarming party, which I stayed about 10 minutes for and left. I won't go into detail, but we laugh now about what was going on through my mind at that party. The next day, I sang in church and I think he sent me a text later that day telling me that I did a good job and I thought that was really nice of him. The next Sunday, I went to my friend's ward to hear her speak so I missed my ward. But I got a message from Richard asking me if I would like to come over that night and watch a Sunday movie and have some dessert with him, James and James's date. It sounded like fun so I agreed. We ended up in a good conversation after the movie and I remember thinking, "Hmmm, he really isn't that quiet at all. In fact, he has a lot going on underneath that reserved surface."

The next weekend we went out just the two of us. He had told me we would be going to the driving range at the golf course after dinner, and what did I wear?? Wedges! Of all the shoes to be wearing when you are going to be wacking a ball around. But they looked good with my pants and I wanted to look nice Ü In fact, I may have dressed up a little too much for a golf date but it ended up being way too cold to even go so we just had dinner at Sauce and then went back to his place and watched a movie. As we sat there talking at dinner, I realized what a good listener Richard was. He asked great questions and he really listened to what I had to say. I enjoyed our conversation, and I felt very comfortable around him. I could tell he had a lot of depth to him and I felt myself wanting to talk to him more and more. I remember thinking, "Wow, if all we did was sit here and talk all night that would be great with me."

The next couple of weeks were kind of interesting. I put him off for a Friday night date because I was playing ward softball. However, I did tell him he should come and play with us, which he did. But I didn't make things very easy for this guy. I put him off a couple other times because of holiday/family stuff going on. And I was impressed that he had the confidence to keep calling, despite my flakiness. We went out again the second weekend of December. This was the date that things really changed for me.

I won't go into too much detail, but I realized that I needed to just chill out and get to know him better. And amazingly enough, as I did I discovered how much fun I had with him and how much I liked being around him. We went to the driving range and went back to his house and grilled dinner and talked. When I got home that night, even one of my roommates commented on how happy I looked when I walked through the door at the end of the night. I felt something that night I hadn't felt before and I knew it was a good thing.

That feeling has grown and grown into something very special and real to me. Richard has become my best friend. He's someone I can laugh with, share things with, cry to, and he helps me be a better person. I don't know what the future holds, but I know that I love this boy a lot and that we will be there for each other through good and bad.

26 years was worth the wait indeed.