20 years later and still the winner!

I've just been thinking about my sweet hubby this week. Lots of mushy silly things that I will spare you from. But I will say, He works SO hard for us. He is SO funny and patient with me. I love him more everyday. And that's saying a lot. Zeke and I met in middle school and we did NOT like each other at all. Heck, I was only 11 years old! But then when I was 14, I remember going to BYU with the Math Team one day and well, the moment Zeke walked on that bus, I was totally smitten! (Did I mention he was wearing acid-washed jeans and a jacket to match? uh-huh!)

I was laughing with my children the other night and telling them silly stories about my school days. Gabe and Zoe asked me what my most embarrassing moment was and just thinking about it still made me blush. It happened 20 years ago and to this day it still reigns as my most embarrassing moment ever!

Anyway, I was a sophomore in high school at the first football game of the year, waiting in the bleachers for the flag ceremony. I was on the drill team and our coach wouldn't let us leave the bleachers because it would soon be time for us to line up for the flag ceremony (we always did some weird synchronized hand movement thingy before we saluted the flag and then proceeded to sing the National Anthem...yeah, don't ask.)

Well, Zeke and I had just started dating about 4 months before this.... and he had been at basic training for the National Guard in Oklahoma for the last 3 months... I wrote letters to him all summer. My Mom says I moped around my room and listened to "Nothing Compares 2 U" from Sinead O'Connor a few too many times... yeah I know I did. I was in LOVE!

Anyway, back to the football game, I knew Zeke was supposed to be coming home some time that weekend, so I kept looking over at the entrance gate for him. Suddenly, there he was and he was smiling and looking right at ME! um yeah, I TOTALLY wanted to see him! My drill mistress, Jenny, says, "Oh just sneak down between the bleachers and say HI, I'll cover for you." Well, I did! Zeke and I saw each other and I went running to him (like in a cheesy movie or something -- I like those movies, by the way). I wasn't paying attention to where the bleachers ended... I jumped up into his arms and hit my head on the metal framework underneath the bleachers so bad that I kinda passed out/fell into his arms AND split my dance unitard (full leotard) right, well, between my legs... it was beyond awful! I can only imagine what I looked like and what kind of leap I did to split my unitard that way. Oh man!

Somehow I made it back to my place on the bleachers and found a safety pin (probably from Jenny). I remember walking out on the field for the flag ceremony, totally seeing stars and tears of pain streaming down my face, with a big goose egg on my head... and a safety pin strategically placed in my unitard...

All for love...

Here we are about 3 months after the "bleacher incident"
at Zeke's first Military Ball...
(I was almost 16 and Zeke was 18)

*POSTSCRIPT: I talked to Zeke this afternoon about the "bleacher incident" and he says that I jumped up, hit my head, and fell on the ground when he was still about 20 feet away!! All I remember is waking up in his arms... I didn't know I hit the ground first! Oh man, now I just got embarrassed all over again!