14 Years

Last week (I am behind on posts) I had my 14th year wedding anniversary. I have been so very blessed to be married to John Robertson. He is the best man I know. (My mother will disagree and say that my father is the best man I know.) That is okay, I am very blessed to have had 2 amazing men in my life. But right now, my focus is on my AMAZING husband.

John and I met at the annual labor day picnic for our singles ward in 1996. I first saw him standing at the institute building parking lot waiting for a ride to the picnic. John was wearing cut off blue sweat pants, a white t-shirt, I think with a leopard on it, and untied soccer cleats. He had a soccer ball held to his side. I was wearing short, cut off jean shorts, a sparkly green or blue t-shirt, and sandals. My hair was bleached blond (that is its own story) and flipped out on the ends. I had a car but was waiting for directions to the picnic. I thought John was a really old man who should have been married by now, and he thought I was 18 and just out of high school. John disapproved of my attire and hair, and I disapproved of his attire. But we introduced ourselves anyway and chatted easily until it was time to go.

When I got back into the car my sister Lila reproved me for talking so freely to John. I felt embarrassed at the time. I know myself better now and I know that I am just a big mouth and talk on forever. That has not changed.

At the picnic, John and I began talking/arguing about The Fountainhead by Ann Rand. We did so for a while until we were asked to play volley ball. I mentioned that I did not like volley ball because I always got hit in the face by the a ball. John thought that was very unlikely. But, guess what? I got hit in the face with the ball. John got a first hand view of my lack of coordination immediately. After the volley ball game, John and I talked more and more. He told me that he did not have a car and needed to shop for some things like a shower curtain that his apartment did not have. I gave him my phone number and offered to take him.

A few days later my sister handed me the phone and said it was a boy. I was disappointed that it was John and not the boy I wanted to call me. John asked for the promised ride. So we set up a time to meet. John wanted to go out for dinner first so we went to The Boston Market. We talked so very easily together again. We went shopping. When I took John home, he invited me over to hang out with him at his apartment a few days later.

We hung out together nearly every night after that. But, I did not like him; he did not like me. We thought we were just casual friends. We even tried setting each other up with other people. That never worked very well because everyone thought we were a couple since we spent so much time together. Several months of  hanging out passed before I realized that he was more than a friend to me. I decided to tell him. That was near the end of February 1997.

When I told John, he sat away from me thinking for a while and then very resolutely stated, "I'm sorry. I do not love you." I cried, and said, "Then I am not going to be your friend any more."  I left very determinedly to not talk to John again. As soon as I was home the phone rang. John said he was sorry and asked if I was okay. I knew at that moment that John did love, and he just didn't know it yet. I still planned on not talking to him anymore. John called every night. He told me he was lonely and begged me to be his friend still. I gave in just before spring break, March 1, 1997,  and drove him to the airport. We both went home for spring break.

I had a great time. I thought I could be over John completely. My friend Amy and I talked about  dating other guys. I arrived back in Michigan before John. I talked to my bishop some and he said, "John is a fool. He doesn't know what he has got." Then he told me to date other guys and let John be a lonely old man.

I picked John up at the airport on Sunday night. My friend Amy came with me and sat in the front seat on the way home. John did not like that. I didn't talk to John all of that week. Amy and I had planned to go to a singles dance some distance away on Friday night after I got out of work. John walked the two miles from his apartment to my job, bought me a donut and waited for me to check out of work. He asked me not to go to the dance, and to hang out with him instead. I resolutely said no. My plans were set. Amy would be mad. I didn't want to hang out with John that much anymore. John told me that my friends should be more important to me than some strangers at a dance. When I persisted in the noway, not doing. John told me that I was making a bad decision and needed to think about my friends more. I reluctantly gave in and made another friend upset.

That night while hanging out with John at his apartment, he said, "I made a mistake. I do love you." We were engaged April fools day 1997, and married in the Salt lake City Temple June 7, 1997.

My life has been wonderful since that day. Nothing in life is too hard because I am sharing my life with John. The day I got married, my father warned me that marriage would not solve all my problems. That may have been true. But a temple marriage with two people who are determined to live the gospel and keep the commandments as completely as they can does solve all of one's problems. I have been blessed abundantly everyday for 14 years.

John at his 25th birthday 1996 in the apartment we spent so much time just hanging out

Me at John's 25th birthday  Oct 1996

janurary 2001

July 2003

March 2006

Sept 2010 hopefully we will be getting new pictures soon.