Reminiscing

So I've been thinking lately. Mostly I'm so grateful for how my life has turned out so far. Not long ago, all I wanted was to get married. Soon, that desire evolved into the desire to find someone to share a life with. When I met Chase, I knew he was "everything I never knew I always wanted". He made me laugh and made it easy to forget about everything else that was going wrong.

When we got married, I would find myself thinking, "Boy, I'm glad I've found someone to spend my life with". Soon that, too evolved into, "Boy am I glad I found him". Lately I've been terrified by the thought, "What if I hadn't found him?" I can't imagine my life without him. What a sad and unhappy life that would be.

I'm afraid at times I take him for granted. How did I get so lucky? He's such a happy person that when I'm down in the dumps I feel like I bring him down too. He's impossible to stay mad at and I find myself just needing to be in the same room with him to feel better.

For those that don't know our story, it's one worth retelling. I love reminiscing on how we found each other and I couldn't imagine it any other way. Here's the shortened version of our story:

Chase's dating approach was-well-inventive. Our stake president (an old family friend of his) interviewed me for a temple recommend renewal once. He asked in the interview if I was dating anybody and was quite taken aback when I said I wasn't. Oops! Wrong thing to say, because not soon after that did he find and talk to Chase. By then he couldn't remember my name. The only facts he had were #1-I was just released from the Relief Society presidency of the singles ward #2-I had served a mission #3- I was "older" (yikes!) and #4- according to him; stunning. That was all he told him.

One night while at president Scheffield's house, they called the bishop, gave him the 4 facts he had and Bishop Sayer said, "Oh! That's Jamie." They asked for my contact info (of course he had it; it was his daughter-in-law's wedding I was renewing my recommend for as one of her bridesmaids). He gave Chase my cell phone number and this is what I hear:

On a Sunday night on my voice mail I hear a deep, masculine voice say, "Hi. This is Chase Shillig with the Family Home Evening Activities Committee...Quorum. I'm calling to get a headcount for tomorrow's Family Home Evening." He asked if I'd kindly give him a call back to let him know if I'd be able to make it there tomorrow night, he'd greatly appreciate it. He thanked me again, gave me the number and then hung up.

To say I was confused would've been an understatement. I was on the activities committee. I didn't know any "Chase", let alone any Family Home Evening Activities Committee Quorum for that matter. I contemplated not calling back- how different my life would be now! When I did call back I was surprised to get President Scheffield on the line (that's enough to freak a girl out!). He rattled off Chase's cell phone number (by heart) and insisted that I call him immediately.

When I finally did call him back, we found out right away that we both had something in common- we both lived in the ghetto parts of Canyon Country. He made me laugh so hard. In the short 5 minutes we were on the phone, he put me completely at ease and was surprisingly easy to talk to. My favorite part of the conversation was when I finally did ask him about the phone call and the so-called committee. I asked, "So what time is FHE tomorrow?"
He stammered, "7:00 I'm guessing."
"Where is it?"
"The church I suppose."
I questioned, "What exactly are we doing?"
He thought for a minute and then replied, "Don't know. I'm pretty certain it'll be something to do with the church though."
That was all I needed. We decided to go to dinner that night instead and the rest is history. Don't worry though, we still go to FHE. Only now, we do it with our own family.

From then on it was surprises and laughs the entire time I've known him. When we were dating, he'd come and surprise me at my class with flowers. One night as he was in my classroom, he decided to throw one of the student's pencils up in the ceiling.

The next day, as they came in to class, they looked up and (for their 3 foot tall frames) marveled at what happened and how it got there. One of the boys muttered, "It's like the 8th wonder of the world!" All day they truly couldn't get over it. Not long after that, I was at the board with a group in a heated discussion about equivalent fractions when we heard this loud BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! on our door. As I walked to open it, I gave a quick warning and made sure the students saw this as a less effective way to enter a room. Just my luck I open the door to see none other than Chase standing in my doorway holding a beautiful vase of flowers.

The students didn't know what to think. When I introduced him as my friend there were collective giggles all around. When I told them he was the secret "Pencil Throwing Bandit" a massive uproar occurred. You could hear "Cool!", "How'd you do that?" "Are you a giant or something?" and of course, "Can you teach us how to do that?". How is it that 15 seconds in the room and he's their favorite? He of course had all of their undivided attention (why can't fractions do that?) as he carefully taught them the trick, making them promise they'd never do it in my class. I can just see the future now- it's a new generation of pencil throwing pupils and sadly that will be what they remember from fifth grade. There goes my legacy.

Needless to say that everyday I was bombarded with questions about Chase. They wanted to know when he was coming, giggled like the pre-teens they are every time they saw him. We even held a small Open House when we got married at the chapel here- just for them.


What fun we had! They showed up all dressed up. We had a room dedicated to them complete with backdrops and props that they used to dress up, take a picture, print it out and create a scrapbook for us. We had fun. The girls went crazy when it came time to throw the bouquet. The little ones helped pick up the petals that fell. What a great experience to share this time with them. It will be an experience neither of us will soon forget.


Now as we make our own memories, I am surprised every day, thankful in every way and blessed beyond measure. Maybe this is what is President Hinkley (so sad to see him go!) said when he said,
"In all living have much fun and laughter. Life is enjoyed not just endured."