Friday's walk down memory lane 1/20/2012

The BYU happen chance meeting.


Like I said, I returned home from my mission in January 1998.  It was early January and school at BYU started  up the same week.  On my mission, I decided that it was better to go back to school right away rather than waiting 6 months, saving up some money and heading back in the fall.  Having been home only 4 days, I packed my things and headed on a plane to Provo, Utah.

I soon found out that the BYU I had come back to was a different one from the one I had left.  My prior roommates and friends, having either married or served missions, were no longer available to hang out with and despite the fact that I was rooming with my sister, I felt very lonely.  Not only this, but the English language  seemed slow and thick off my tongue and I still greeted everyone with a hearty "Hola!" or "Buenos Días"  They probably all thought I was wierd.  Imagine my excitement whenever I ran into someone I actually knew.  I can recall one incident clearly.  I was walking home from the MTC after work one day and was sure I saw someone I knew.  "John,"  I called out.  I got no response and the person continued walking.  I was certain though that it was my friend John so I quickened my step and called again, "John!"  The said person, stopped, turned around and waited for me to catch up.  To my chagrin, it was not John.  The situation didn't end up being as embarrassing as it could have been though as it was his younger brother who was quite similar in looks.     

So, two days into my return to BYU I had planned a meeting with some of my fellow students in my major to go over our homework assigned to us.  I was a math major, so the logical place to meet was in the math building.  For some reason, the others I was meeting were late and I sat waiting a while for them in a common room.  While waiting, I spotted someone I knew... Brad.  "Hi Elder  ..... (I didn't know his first name at the time and was more comfortable using his missionary name)" I called out excitedly.  Brad turned, saw me, greeted me in return and made his way over to sit down beside me.  I found out he was on his way to see his Uncle (a statistics professor who was housing him for the semester) for a ride home or something of that nature.  I was enjoying our brief conversation when all of the sudden, quite unexpectedly, he asked me out on a date.  Now, before I go on, one must know two things about me at this time.  Number one:  I didn't date boys who were younger than me EVER!  Number two:  I had a strict rule that I would never date someone from my mission.  This rule came from a prior boyfriend who told me girls didn't belong on a mission as they were either whining and complaining the whole time or relentlessly flirting to find their eternal companion.  I was not going to go down in the records as one of THOSE sisters.  So, as going on a date with Brad would have broken both of those rules, I found myself trying to come up with a good excuse...but was unable to come up with any and agreed to a date (I was too new off my mission to use any deception here).  Soon thereafter, the group I was waiting for showed up and Brad, having written down my phone number, left.  When I returned home that evening, my sister informed me that an Elder from my mission had called several times (maybe I'm exaggerating a little here, but he had called) wanting to talk with me and trying to convince her what a good guy he was for me.  Groaning, I lay on my bed trying to think of some escape out.