Welcome - friends, family and stalkers alike. It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If so - this picture is probably worth at least two hundred and thirty. Honestly, I think it sums up what this blog will be about: telling people about our life and entertaining along the way. Perhaps with a dash of self-effacing humor.
After getting heat from
my sister about writing something - I caved and put up an entry I thought would be a good place to start. I thought I might briefly tell the story of how we met, because there are some of you who might need a formal introduction to "us."
Ashley and I met in Washington D.C. Ashley was doing an internship for
Congressman Hefley - then the representative of Colorado's 5th district. Her mom saw the internship being advertised in the local paper. Even though the deadline for the internship had passed, she applied anyway and ended up getting the internship. She was looking forward to being single in a new, exciting city and also being close to
her sister.
I moved to D.C. with grand visions of "cleaning up" our nation's capital, much like Mayor
Goldie Wilson was going to clean up Hill Valley. Certainly the impetus for going was the stagnant state of the LDS Denver-dating scene, but also the results of the
2004 election. I remember my parents were concerned about my exodus. My dad said (and I quote), "David, you are going to move out there, meet someone from out there, and never come back."
I'm really glad my dad was wrong. I don't think I can say that about many things - but this one is a safe bet.
Our path's were destined to collide.
One of my roommates, Ben - really helped me with the move. Ben and I attended the University of Colorado together. Ben dated Ashley's sister back at CU.
Ashley moved into a house full of girls. I was good friends with her roommate Jocelyn before she moved in.
Finally - I was also good friends with an old college friend of Ashley. His name is Brant and he works for the Department of Defense. He moved out a few months before Ashley did - and was one of the key players in "our meeting."
With the inter-connected nature our social network - our meeting was inevitable. My roommate Ben and I hosted a dinner party for Jocelyn and some of her roommates - Ashley being one of them. Ashley didn't know that Ben, Jocelyn and I had kind of arranged this little soiree so that we could meet. Meet we did. Then we dated... and then we got married about ten months later.
I was immediately attracted to Ashley. I loved her eyes and her hair. She was really beautiful, and tall. It was impossible to ignore her. Ashley had just gotten out of a relationship and was giving off a pretty gnarly "I'm not interested vibe."
I was intrigued by this vibe - because I thought I was pretty awesome and thought that Ashley should be moonstruck by me. Ashley played it as cool as a cucumber. As the evening progressed, conversation turned to music. I offered to make Ashley a mix cd as an transparent motive to see her again.
At the time, I was having pretty serious back problems. So much so, that Ashley later recorded that she even took that into consideration for our future nuptials... before we started dating "officially." I call it the Tiny Tim charm. In Ashley's daydream - I was cast as the "invalid husband."
Fortunately, my back healed and Ashley doesn't have to worry about a future where she's the only parent hefting our progeny.
The next day - Ashley sent me an email where she offered her compassionate services and even offered to go to blockbuster for me. After we exchanged a few emails - we arranged a date for that weekend and the rest is history. We're actually coming up on the 2 year anniversary of that email exchange. Maybe we'll go to blockbuster to celebrate.
What's your "how we met" story?
Living in Los Angeles in and of itself is kind of a cliche. But it's not as if we are pursuing acting or modeling careers. Not that those are bad things, just that urban planning and child advocacy are hardly the beaten paths out here.
