A fabricated lab schedule: Taryn

I met Taryn over two years ago when she began attending the dental college I worked at while living in Utah. I have never been shy about saying I don't love dental hygienists, but there was a select handful from her graduating class that I admired and respected. She was one of them. Taryn had a baby girl within a month of starting the grueling dental hygiene program, but I never once heard a complaint out of her mouth. Her husband would often come by at lunch time to spend some quality time with her. I loved watching them together. I often thought that if I could be friends with the students, I would want to be friends with Taryn and Brady because they are a lot like me and Tim.

How did you meet?

The first time I ever met my husband was at his (then) girlfriend’s apartment. We love to remember that we met each other long before we were ever friends and even longer before we ever dated. Provo, UT can be such a small world!

My roommates and I were looking for a new place to live, and had gone to check out some condos. We just picked a random door and knocked. A boy answered the door, and was very happy to welcome us in and explain to us why this would be the perfect place for us to live. There was a girl there too, and when we asked for a quick tour of the place we were surprised to learn that this was actually her apartment, not his. She hadn’t really said a word the whole time. I’m not psychic, but I don’t think his girlfriend was super happy that he was so eager to welcome new girls into the neighborhood. Oh and he had a giant white boy fro! I’m not joking. He definitely made an impression on us that night! Not only because of his massive curly hair, but also because he was so friendly and genuine. He did his job, and we decided that we would move in to those condos the following fall.

When we did move in I had totally forgotten our original meeting, and I think he had too. We weren’t drawn to each other right away, it wasn’t love at first sight, and neither of us even had marriage on our minds. Instead we were friends. For a long time I was actually better friends with his friends than I was with him. Maybe I even dated one of his friends, and maybe he had other friends that he hung out with more than us.

So how did we meet? I always have a hard time choosing which story to share when I get asked that question, because we didn’t truly meet until we happened to have a class together at BYU. What class you ask? Anatomy! We walked to class together, sat in class together, had cadaver lab together, and talked and laughed through class together when we should have been listening. I still remember talking that Sunday night before the new semester started about which classes we were taking. He said he was taking Anatomy and we found out we were in the same lecture and same lab! For some reason, he asked me multiple times which lab I was in and what days of the week it was, and always said, “yeah, yeah that’s the same one I’m in”. Later I learned that he spent the whole week trying to rearrange his work and school schedules to be able to fit that specific lab into his schedule just so he could be with me.

We studied together and even though I tried not to, I realized that I kind of liked this guy. I was always excited at the thought of being with him. When I got dizzy from the smell of formaldehyde he took care of me. I hate talking on the phone, but I found myself talking on the phone for hours with him. Once I realized how long it had been, I would immediately make up an excuse and end the conversation. I was scared to let the friendship become anything more than that. However, now that I had truly gotten to know him, there was no denying that my feelings ran deeper than the friendship that I had originally chalked this one up to be. We really were great friends, we knew each other well, we got each others jokes, we liked the way the other person viewed life, we found ourselves finding every excuse to be together as much as possible, and we were more happy with each other than with anyone else in the world. By the time we realized we were made for each other, and always meant to be more than friends, we had already built a strong foundation of love and respect for one another that could no longer be hidden. Call it fate, a higher power, kindred spirits, serendipity, or what you will, but something or someone kept putting us in each other’s path over and over until we were ready. 

With the start of our friendship, a flame was ignited, and from the moment that flame was ignited, it would never go away. Even more than four years later, though sometimes we disagree or get annoyed at silly things, there is still a flame we each have for each other that runs so deep it can never be put out.

i will be featuring different pieces of some of my favorite bloggers and readers' love stories throughout the month of February since it is the month of love and all. So don't be alarmed if you have lots of posts from me this month. Happy "love" making, and I mean that in the cleanest way.