My Love Story- part 3- His Best & My Worst

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Gary was 19 and for the young men in our church, that means serving a mission. And a good thing Gary chose to do so because as far back as I can remember, my heart was set on marrying a young man that did just that.

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The whole congregation, the very folk that helped raise him, was excited about his mission call. If not a tad bit confused though, as he was called to serve in Salt Lake City, Utah. Weren't all Utahan's Mormon already?

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(the answer is no)

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Gary's last Sunday before his mission was celebratory for the good work he'd be doing for the next two years, it was a nice send off, a heartfelt farewell. He spoke in church that day, along with his family. His family was very well pleased, as we all were.

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And he'd never been cuter.

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My older sister Darla was still crushin' on Gary, and was sure to miss him for the next two years. As she tried to snap a picture of him after church that day, I did as I always did when she tried to have a moment with him. I made my presence known.

(picture taken at Gary's mission farewell)

Gary spent the next two years serving, being selfless, focused on the important things in life, growing in many ways and doing good things. I, on the other hand, spent the next two year rebellious, confused, angry and grumpy. Doing miserably in school and making those around me miserable. Teenage angst? Yeah, I had that.

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I started 'going with' Al. I wasn't old enough to go anywhere with him, but that's what we called dating in the 80's.

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Gary was in a good place looking in the right direction and I was doing the exact opposite.

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.At last, after serving honorably, Gary's 2 years was up and he came home.

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to be continued