Anniversary Countdown Part C

The Test of Absence

New Years' Eve was spent at my parents house. My folks invited not only Josh, but his parents over as well. I can't remember if the other kids were there are not (Tara, Lori, were you?). I just remember that Josh and I held hands as we watched Godzilla with our parents. It didn't seem that weird at the time, but now that I'm voicing it, maybe it should've. I don't know. All I know is that there was a bit of a current of tension running through me all night because it was New Years Eve and what does everyone do at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve? They kiss. Now, I'd made mistakes in the past when it came to kissing (Josh, just skip this part). Let's just say, I've kissed enough to know a good kiss from a bad kiss. But, I'd never had a New Years kiss before and I really, really wanted one from this big hunk of man that had quickly become my favorite person in the world. But our PARENTS were there! Talk about a buzz kill.

The movie ended just before midnight and all of us clamored out onto the deck to watch the New Years' fireworks pop off the top of Pikes Peak. It was very romantic, except that our parents were still around. Dang them! Oh, and the fact that Josh had just come from summertime in South Africa and it was subzero winter in Colorado. He was a bit chilly. So, New Years Eve was a bust.

Later that morning (New Years Day) Josh took me to the airport. I was flying to Utah to visit my friend Mindy before she left for the Ukraine to serve her own mission. We went to the gate for my flight to say good bye. Now the parents were nowhere to be seen. Still the everloving lady, I helped Josh make the correct decision by making myself very available for a good bye kiss. And he actually took the hint. Oooh, and it was a good one. Getting on the airplane was just a technicality since my head was in the clouds from that moment on. Ah, love.

I flew to Utah and loved visiting with my friends and I really wanted to know if Josh was missing me as much as I was missing him. He'd only been home for about three weeks, but we'd spent nearly everyday together and I was head over heels for him. I wanted to call him, but I didn't want to appear too eager, so I made up an excuse to talk to him. (This is the part where Josh says I played mind games.) I had asked him to substitute my Seminary class while I was gone and I decided the best way to get my Josh-fix but not seem needy (although I was) was to ask him how class was going. I think I jumped the gun out of nerves, though, because Josh swears that our conversation went like this:

J: Hi! How are you? How is Utah?

S: Great! How's my class doing?

He was pretty abashed that I seemed way more interested in my class than I did in him. If only he knew. He's all I talked about that week. But, he got his payback. I was hoping he'd come pick me up at the airport but he told me he wasn't going to be able to make it. I was crushed. My mom was going to pick me up a few days later.

I finished my visit with Min and headed home to find my mom waiting for me at the gate in the airport. I had hoped Josh could've come after all and I knew something was up because my mom was suppressing a smile. I looked over and saw this cowboy sitting in one of the gate seats wearing the same goofy Groucho glasses and fake nose that I was forced to wear when he had gotten off the plane just weeks earlier. My prince had come for me!

Josh says it was during that trip that he realized that he loved me. I realized it too. It's funny that I knew I was going to marry him before I knew that I loved him. And we still hadn't been on a date yet.