Today, I Celebrate My Love For You....

I love those old songs who's choruses work so well as one-liners, especially the ones you can just happen upon, you know, like, "I just called to say I love you...." Or, "That's the way it has to be cause that's the way I like it!" Or, "Some say love, is like a river...blah blah, blahblah, blahblah.."

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. And be warned. It's longer than I meant it to be.

Today Spencer and I celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary! Okay, five years doesn't seem that long to some of you. It really doesn't sound like that much time, but when I think back at all the memories, all the adventures and experiences and not to mention kids we've had, that's plenty of time to build something substantial.

From the first night we met, it was like we were best friends. We met on a blind date (thanks, Jeanne-Marie). That night we went to India Fest at the Hari Krishna Temple only a few miles from my home in Salem, Utah. After the fun was over there (where he announced, as a total surprise to me, and in my home town, on a stage with chanting, dancing, drum beating Hari Krishnas, that "the woman of his dreams--Mardee Rae Orton--had just accepted his proposal of marriage"!) and after we had had ice cream at my parents home and I had introduced him to my dad, the night seemed to be over for the others in our group.
It hadn't occurred to me that I was falling in love, but I certainly wasn't ready for the fun to end. After spending nearly an hour trying to round up some more people to drive up Provo Canyon and watch Back to the Future with us on a laptop, we grabbed some blankets and jumped into my (gorgeous, plum-colored, red plush interior) LeBaron and drove up the canyon together, just the two of us.
Like we had known eachother for years, we bundled up in blankets and laughed our heads off at our commentary through the whole movie. Then the movie ended, and, like we had been friends forever, we talked talked talked. We finally decided to post-pone the rest of the date when it reached 5 am and we were just about frozen through, inspite of all the blankets I brought. (We weren't snuggling or anything--lest you get any ideas).
I drove him back to his King Henry apartment and we tried to finish off our conversation and end the date. An hour later, he left my car, and I drove home with a huge smile on my face. It was only then that I realized what was happening.
As I often did when I was out late, so as not to disturb my slumbering Elisabeth, I wrapped myself in the blankets and fell asleep on the couch. Then next morning (two hours later) at 8:00, I sat up and noticed I was still smiling.
"Elisabeth! Elisabeth!!" I shouted. Why didn't I just go into our room and not make her come to me? I don't know. I do know I was very very cozy.
"I am going to marry that man, Elisabeth. You mark my words." And then I told her some of the hilarious stories he had told me the night before. In her ever-sweet way, she was just as excited and giddy as I was. I tried to keep it from Jeanne-Marie that I had fallen for him, but it didn't take long for the whole world to see. We saw eachother nearly every day after that. And the longest days are still the days that I don't get to see him.

I hadn't meant for that to be a full summary, whoops.

Our courtship.

There are a thousand stories from our first years together. A million ways he made me smile, made me think, made me better, made me stronger, and happier.

Okay, one more, kiddos. Our first kiss.

As I mentioned, we spent a lot of time together, right from the beginning. Saturday night: first date, Sunday: went to his house to pick up pet turtles that I would be babysitting (that was an excuse to see him, yes), then spent over an hour on the phone after I made up some question about the turtles so that I could call him, Monday: date 2--ice cream and long-boarding with Adam and Reina, Tuesday: date 3--dinner and "Bend it Like Beckham" with my cousins and dates--held hands, Wednesday: watched Back to the Future 2 with friends at my place, then went outside to sit on my big orange couch and talk some more-just the two of us.
And now you are up to date. Spencer feels this information is important because he felt that we had spent an awful lot of time together thus far.
Wednesday night we sat in the moonlight (porchlights) at Roman(ce) Gardens and enjoyed one another's company. We sat close and maybe-sorta-kinda cuddled oh-so-slightly. He told me the story of "Big Gay James", who hung out with some of Spencer's friends. One night Spencer decided to cash in on their friendship and get some answers, so he started asking him questions about being gay...sorry I'm going into too much detail. Let's just say Spencer opened a can of worms that ended with BG James facing Spencer and saying, "Oh, I wish either I were a girl or you were gay, so that you would kiss me right now!"
I laughed my head off at this, and then when I turned to face Spencer, he said, "Mardee, I wish either you were a lesbian and I were a girl, or I were your boyfriend so you would kiss me right now!"
Ahahhaha, what a funny guy. What a funny and brave thing to say. Ha ha, what a...wait, is he moving in? Ah! [my finger goes to his lips, stops him where he is, only moments away from my own lips]
"Do you know what Saturday was?"
"Uh, what?"
"The first time we EVER met!"
"Yeah, okay."
Apparently, in Spencer's defense, he hadn't known me for long enough to know that I really do apply my chapstick that often (still do).
Don't worry, a couple weeks later (okay, week and a half), we kissed. I was surprised at how non-awkward it was, considering that I was his first kiss off his mission, and his response to that was, "I play the trumpet!"

You're my best friend, Spencer. Still.