Heather and Doug

Congrats you two!! Here is the much anticipated story!!!!
All right ladies, all right! It’s finally here!
STOOOOOORY TIIIIIIIIIME!
So, my dears, gather round on the floor and read closely :D
I don’t know how the day went as fast as it did. Seriously, I was shocked. I had to work in the morning for 5 hours (GRATEFULLY!) and I get distracted there really easily. Which is funny, because all I did yesterday was rake leaves… Anyway! At work for 5 hours, and my phone was exploding. WAY too many people were trying to text me so I finally had to just let it keep buzzing and not answer texts anymore. :P But it was nice to feel the love :D
So my sister is in hair school right now and she’d cut my hair last week and the bangs… well bleh. Her instructor cut those WAY too short so I had a freak out then. But they turned out ok when I was able to style them myself. Anyway, so she’s in hair school, and I was talking on Monday how I’d wanted my hair to be when I see him again and she told me to come in that day after work and she’d do it for me. So I went and she didn’t really listen to me AT ALL. “My hair doesn’t hold curl very well, just so you know.” “I know hair better than you, I go to hair school.”… ok. But I live with my hair every day. Whatever, do what you want, were my thoughts. And then when I said big chunks of hair curled together, so they’d turn into big waves (like MARLEE WANTS HER HAIR), she disregarded that and I came out with a bunch of little curls where I resembled Shirley Temple… or a poodle. I was in shock, and NOT in a good way! I FLIPPED. I hadn’t freaked out at all all day, but then I had 3 different breakdowns over my hair. THREE! I am a tom boy, girls, so imagine this “girl” who’s always playing sports, roughing it up with the boys, and everything else, freaking out about her hair! It was ridiculous.
At this point, I’d finally driven over to Doug’s house and I’d exclaimed to Doug’s mom that I looked like a poodle. I’d texted my friend Whitney about looking like a poodle. I tweeted about looking like a poodle. I LOOKED LIKE A FREAKING POODLE! Ugh. It was not pretty. And I was freaking out.
Finally, Doug’s mom took her straightener away from me that I was borrowing and said to go change and distract myself doing something other than looking in the mirror. :P So I did… ate some food, brushed my teeth… dropped a glob of toothpaste on my shirt… It was great! Another freak out ensued, but my friends Cory and Kristen kept tweeting me, reminding me to “breathe calmly”. Ha ha ha it was great. They really did help me keep it together and not totally freak out all day.
So 5 o’clock finally rolls around, which is when we were leaving for the airport and to pick up Doug’s little brother Joe from the U. And we didn’t leave until 5:20. And then we didn’t even pick up Joe, because Doug’s other brother Brandon and his wife Saren (whom we can accredit the pictures to :D) picked him up. Anyway, we all met at the airport. And I refused to think too hard about the fact my best friend was coming home. Because I TOTALLY would’ve started inwardly freaking if I did. I just listened to some of Our favorite songs and let the time pass :)
Finally, we get to the airport. As we were walking over to see when his flight would come in when I saw a sign. “Welcome home Tyson!” and I leaned over to Doug’s mom “Winchester’s are here.” (he’s one of Doug’s favorite Elders from the MTC :) They kept in great touch out there). And we just laughed and Doug’s mom had to go meet them :P All the while Saren was taking pictures of EVERYTHING :D Me and Doug’s little sisters were sitting there dancing and singing “Pumped Up Kicks” in the middle of the airport and it was epic :D And then the Arrival flight thing said that his flight was on time… but it was past 6:45… and it still hadn’t said landed or arrived yet (and 6:45 was the arrival time)! So I’m sitting here, dying. HELLO AIRPORT PEOPLE! You’ve got an MG down here who NEEDS to know where her man is! NEEDS! Freaking heck, at least say the plane has landed since it was “on time.” Urgh. 7:00 rolls around… no change… 7:05… 7:07… OH LOOK! It says landed!!! So I went and took my place sitting in this chair watching the escalator through the glass. Waiting. Waiting…
Have you girls noticed that’s ALL we ever do? Wait? :P
…And then someone said there they are! Everyone got all excited. And then… oh. Just kidding. Pilots. Go about your business again. And back to the waiting game… Oh! Oh… nope. More pilots. And yet some more. Urgh…
Then finally, I looked up and I recognized one of the elder’s immediately. My heart stopped and this little smile started to form. I realized that Doug was the 2nd one coming down the escalator and the moment I saw him I started tearing up and putting my hands to my face (Saren didn’t get that reaction, but that’s totally ok). I already knew that he wasn’t even going to do anything until he’d hugged all of his family first, so I was annoyed when his brothers weren’t over there! I went over to them and shoved them in his direction because I WANTED MY HUG!
Then after he’d answered whatever question they’d asked, I came out a little more from behind a bunch of people and he looked at me and said “Come here.” And gave me the. Best. Hug. Ever. He was squeezing me so hard and he was all emotional when he said “I love you Heather.” And I had to squeak out the words because I was trying not to cry and my throat was closing up. And then he just grinned at me. He turned around answered some other question then looked back at me and hugged me again. He did that like 5 times, and then I had to see if he was still ticklish (which he was ha ha ha) and finally his mom was like, “Ok I have to draw a line somewhere before he’s released! No tickling!” It was super funny… because we did it anyway :P So then we went and met the other elders who I’d heard so much about. It was great. The first one, Rallison, was like, “So you’re Heather. I’ve heard a lot about you.” It was super funny! And he seems awesome. So I’m excited to hang out with him :) Then we went to go see the other Elder, Winchester, and he was by the luggage and me and Doug started off, and then he grabbed my hand and looked at me with a grin on his face as he giggled. I giggled too, of course, but then was like “Your mom will be super pissed.” So he nodded and agreed and we let go :P ha ha ha. Then I met Winchester and he’s a pretty funny guy. So that’ll be fun too :D
Ok so FINALLY we started going up to leave. And we were walking side by side the whole time and he was so in shock and just loving being in America. He is OBSESSED with America. He even kissed the ground when he got off the plain in San Francisco :P Anyway we just kept looking at each other and laughing and grinning like idiots and saying I love you. And he kept saying “You’re beautiful,” “You’re so pretty,” “You’re really cute.” Like every time he looked at me. :) he he he.
So then we went to the car, but the luggage (his brother and sister had them.) was behind us (me, Doug and his mom) so his mom went to go find them. The suburban back door was open, so no one could actually see us so he hugged me again and said I love you.
Well we piled in the cars and went to Beto’s for dinner (I don’t know what his family’s thing is with Beto’s but I swear they’re obsessed :P). And uh, we may or may not have held hands in the car… :) Our thoughts were it’s not a sexually inappropriate thing (which is what the handbook talks about) and it’s just like an extended handshake :P It just seemed… right. Honestly, I really do believe that I would feel a little bad if we did something I felt was breaking rules, because that’s generally how it goes. But it felt right and good. And it was super cute. Anyway, we went and ate and then left to get him released :D
So he goes in, talks FOREVER with the stake President (or, at least it felt like forever…) and we’re all just out there waiting. And waiting… and waiting…
And then he finally came out. And he was released. And the moment we walked down the hall, I looked at him and smirked, “Ha, I told you you wouldn’t do it as soon as you were released.” And he looks at me with that “challenge me” look and said, “Oh yeah?” and at that point we got into the foyer and he picked me up, spun me around and kissed me :D Which is exactly what he’d told me he’d do, but being the not very romantic boy he was when he left, I always teased him about the fact he wouldn’t really do it :P Yup, I was wrong! :D But honestly, it was the cutest thing ever. And then he kissed me again. And spun me around again. And we just kept saying I love you over and over again. And then we were both grinning like idiots as we walked out of the church and went to the car where the rest of them already were.
We went to his house and then we just goofed off. We wrestled, we had tickle fights and his parents just rolled their eyes and smiled. :) We were all talking and he got caught up on some things, and it was just like he’d never left… but that he totally had. It felt so perfect. It just was perfect. Being with my best friend again. Just goofing off. Having fun and grinning constantly. I missed that so much. But it was so worth it.
We hung out again this morning and watched Tangled. He loves that movie; and we were singing all the songs together and it was hilarious. And I’m so excited because we’re going to do baptisms tonight :D
Girls I’m so ridiculously in love. He was such a great guy when he left, and now he’s come back as the most wonderful man I’ve ever met. In love doesn’t even begin to cover it. This is the man I’ll be spending the rest of my eternity with :D
Remember ladies; they are still there. They haven’t disappeared. It’s hard. And a lot of times it sucks. But it is BEYOND worth it in the end. I am so proud of him and what he has become, because he will now be so much more prepared for being a husband and father. I’m so grateful for these last two years and all the things I was able to learn. They’re real. They DO come home. And I know that I’m super blessed by what I was given right off the bat when he came home. Don’t expect perfection; although, even just a handshake would’ve been perfect for me. I was just overly blessed with other things :D