I Do (Cherish You)

Warning: This post is a tad long. :)

I have been told many times in the last several years that "Oh, you had to move here for me." There are a few people that I had rather not met in that process as well though. Growing up in the LDS faith I had always thought that I would go out to BYU for college and not make it through without at least getting engaged. (Even though I would never tell any of the girls that I went through YW with that.)
My dreams were dashed when I received the letter from BYU stating that I wouldn't be joining them in the fall and then another letter came saying please join us from BYU-Idaho. I moved up there with no friends or family anywhere around. Looking back I had to go there to meet those that I did. Mandi told me multiple times that the reason why I was there was because of her. Some other roommates would say the same thing at different times in the 2 years I was there. Then there was a roommate that I would have rather not met and kinda made our living situation kinda awkward.
Then I finally moved down to Provo. My dream. I wanted to get into their nursing program. Plans changed and ended up doing something that I loved. Often I felt that I had moved there in order to meet people and for me to be in their lives. Again, there was people I had rather not meet but overall I knew that I was providing friendship and support to my roommates when they needed it the most. Dreams were dashed again when I didn't get into the nursing program at BYU.
My next move was to move to North Carolina. This time with family. I was still depressed that I wasn't going through the nursing program at BYU but knew that this was the only way to see my dreams fulfilled. Feeling like I was starting all over in kindergarten, trying to get new friends at school and church, I did my best to interact with those at nursing school. Little did I know I would become great friends with 2 girls. We can't remember the first time we spoke but we talked and became friends that would sit next to each other for months to come.

One of these girls just had a vow renewal ceremony this past Saturday. I was invited as one of the few from nursing school. Her story is a bit unique. Jess and Sean have known each other for years and went to school together. Last July they got married in a small family wedding. He was about to deploy to Afghanistan and she would start nursing school. These last 16 months were supposed to be a distraction for her so she wouldn't think about what he was doing. There were lots of ups and downs for her. There were several calls from her in tears about not hearing from him for days and she knew what that could mean. Gratefully he would always call after those long periods of time and tell her that not him but another comrade had fallen.

Me, Jess and Kelsy with Jess's dad in the back:

During her brother's toast at the reception it finally sunk in about how blessed she and her family had been during his deployment. He was able to come back after a 14 month deployment still alive, in one piece and mentally all there.
She told me how thankful she was that I was there for her. I realized that if I had gotten into the nursing program at BYU then there wouldn't have been any way that I would have met Jess. There wouldn't have been a reason for me to move to North Carolina. I'm not a swimmer and so therefore not in the same circle of athletes as she is.
So congrats to Jessica and Sean, for making it this far separately and for many more years of love and happiness spent together. Jess- I will miss you a lot as you move away but wouldn't want it any other way- this way you and Sean can finally live together as husband and wife.