Lara & Josh

 The behind the scenes look at what happens when a girl and boy separate for two years then reunite in the winter of 2011-ENJOY! ;)
I don’t like taking up a lot of space, so I’ve deleted the before story. If ya missed it, boy and girl met at a jazz festival. Started dating the summer after that. He went on his mission that winter, 2009, and he came home today.  And the two years apart kinda sucked.
Alright. Now for the homecoming story.
If I didn’t... see him today, today would have been the worst day of my life. That anxiety, I kid you not, was highly unpleasant. Incredibly so. 7:30 rolled around, he started calling me then hanging up before I could answer. 8pm was when he was supposed to get released. And so he did. But no one told me. 8:30 rolled around. Nothing. 8:45. Nothing 9:00pm. I lost it, and texted his sister asking if he was coming over, she said “I’m not allowed to say ;)” From 9:00pm on, I had my face pressed against the window, watching for his truck.
Now. For you to understand how perfect today was, you must know something about his goodbye. It was the first snow of the season in 2009. And he walked away from me, and I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, so I ran after him. In the snow. Barefoot. And he kissed me, picked me up, and carried me back to my door.
Alright. Now comes 9:30pm on December 13, 2011. My phone starts ringing, and I look down and see it’s him calling. And I look up and see someone walking in front of our house on the phone, but it’s dark, and I naturally can’t see in the dark…. But I knew it was him.
I opened the door, stepped out, and stood on the doorstep. He said “You opened the door for me, how nice!” Then I ran off the doorstep, down the drive way and stopped because he was the awkward return missionary, I wanted him to meet me the rest of the way. And he did. He ran towards me, picked me up and hugged me. And we turned in slow circles in the snow, just holding each other. We relaxed the hug, and he looked into my eyes, and I don’t even remember what we said, but he started kissing me all over the face, hitting the mark (if you know what I mean) every other time. Then we hugged and my sister opened the door and looked out and said “Awww! I’d come outside but I’m barefoot!” And he said “Fine! Stay inside!” And we just held each other, spinning slowly in the snow, whispering to each other. He looked down and realized I was barefoot, and picked me up, and carried me to my door. Just like last time.
Then we sat down with my family and talked. And talked. And talked. And he played the piano for my dad. I haven’t seen my dad smile like that since I don’t know when. They just exchanged mission war stories, and talked about life and I sat and stared at him, and every now and then he’d look over at me, still talking to my dad, but he’d just stare at me.
Then my parents gave us space. We turned off the lights, and turned on all the Christmas lights, and sat together, as close as we could, getting closer and closer, maybe making out a lot. We talked a lot, but our lips were touching most of the time. And we didn’t talk a lot too. Sometimes we’d just hold each other and look at the Christmas tree. And whisper that today was the best day of our lives.

“What do you think about Spring?”
“I like Spring. Do you like Spring?”
“It’s my favorite season.”
“What do your parents think about Spring?”
“I don’t really care. It’s my life.”
“And it’s my life.”
“And I want my life to be your life.”

We didn’t talk much about the last two years. We just talked. And it was so easy. So many RMGs said that it was like he never left. I never believed them. I thought that was crazy. But we picked up right where we left off, no, better. I love him so much girls. 2 years ago, he was a boy I loved. Now, he’s the man I want to be with forever.

Tomorrow his mom has to take a test, and she’s going to park the car at one of those coin machine things… forgot what they’re called… anyways, Josh and I are going to sit in the car and put quarters in every 30 minutes and play games and tell stories.
It was worth the wait. 100 times over. Today was horrible. 2 years ago, if I knew today was going to be like that, I might not have said yes. But NOW. Now, after being with him, I would have gone through today every day for 5 years if it meant I could be with him.
I can’t even describe it fully. Every tear I cried over the last 2 years, because I was lonely, because I was confused, it was all worth it. Every night I stayed up all night because it was letter day the next morning and I needed that letter a lot. Every hurt I felt at the weddings I work, remembering how I was alone. He’s here now. And he’s never leaving me again.
It was worth it. I could never say it enough. It was worth it.

Congrats to Lara & Josh-I speak for all the MG's when I say we can't wait to hear the rest of the story!