I've decided to write down the story of how two people jumped into marriage feet first, ridiculously young by the world's standards, and survived the plunge.
I'd like to go back to before Matt and I met, back to a time when I was just barely starting to date boys, around the age of fifteen. I had had many crushes on boys before this, but I was raised in a very reasonable belief that it is best to wait to go on dates until you are at least sixteen. I managed to keep true to that until my fifteenth birthday when I decided that a boy I hardly knew was the most wonderful thing on earth. That lasted all of a week or so before I felt so guilty for breaking the rules that I dumped him. My family lived in Arizona at this time. I was born and raised there, hating every minute of it. Heat is not my thing. The summer after my Freshman year of high school, a few months after the first boyfriend, my father and I went up to Utah to visit my grandparents. It didn't take long staying there to see that they were in trouble. Both of them slept 18-20 hours a day and they ate nothing but simple salads all day long. My grandpa spoke often of suicide and overall the whole situation was a scary one to see.
It was after seeing all of this that my parents started talking to my grandpa about moving up to Utah to live with them. My grandpa said it was fine and honestly I was ecstatic. The idea of leaving the heat to live in a beautiful mountain range was wonderful.
I'd like to go back to before Matt and I met, back to a time when I was just barely starting to date boys, around the age of fifteen. I had had many crushes on boys before this, but I was raised in a very reasonable belief that it is best to wait to go on dates until you are at least sixteen. I managed to keep true to that until my fifteenth birthday when I decided that a boy I hardly knew was the most wonderful thing on earth. That lasted all of a week or so before I felt so guilty for breaking the rules that I dumped him. My family lived in Arizona at this time. I was born and raised there, hating every minute of it. Heat is not my thing. The summer after my Freshman year of high school, a few months after the first boyfriend, my father and I went up to Utah to visit my grandparents. It didn't take long staying there to see that they were in trouble. Both of them slept 18-20 hours a day and they ate nothing but simple salads all day long. My grandpa spoke often of suicide and overall the whole situation was a scary one to see.
It was after seeing all of this that my parents started talking to my grandpa about moving up to Utah to live with them. My grandpa said it was fine and honestly I was ecstatic. The idea of leaving the heat to live in a beautiful mountain range was wonderful.
I quickly got online to look at the local schools and my parents got to work downsizing and packing our home of 14 years. If you don't know us very well, and are starting to think I am an only child, you are only a smidgen right. I have seven older siblings, but by this point I was the only one left at home. With the second youngest being five years older than me, it definitely felt like I was an only child through my teenage years.
My father brought me back up to Utah with our basic necessities just in time to enroll for the new school year. Little did I know then that my future husband lived within walking distance and I was enrolling in the school he currently attended. If I had known that, perhaps I wouldn't have wasted so much time my sophomore and junior year dating so many wrong guys.
At this time in Matt's life he was pretty happy. He was starting his junior year of high school and had a great group of friends. He had little to no interest in high school and like all teenage boys, he went to school with the intent of enjoying his friends and looking for a girlfriend. Life wasn't perfect but he was okay.
Like I said before, I spent the majority of my sophomore and junior years of high school dating all of the wrong guys. The fact is, I wasn't interested in short term commitments and these guys just weren't cutting it. When I went into a relationship, I went in looking for an eternal companion. Some relationships lasted longer than others, but it was usually around the time that I realized that I could/would/should not marry them that it would be over. For some that took all of a week, and for others as many as three months.
Matt and I went to a very large school of approximately 3,000 students, 1,000 per grade. He was a grade above me and yet it is almost laughable how many times we should have met in my first two years there. My sophomore year I had a class with two of his best friends and I was thoroughly entertained by their humor. Also in my sophomore year, I joined a club called Technology Students Association (TSA) with my two best guy friends. It was there that Matt first noticed me. He never spoke to me and I still had yet to meet him.
It wasn't until the end of my junior year as everyone prepared for the junior prom that I met him. My best friend came down the hall to our usual meeting place for lunch with a remote control her hands and a little car zooming ahead of her. She excitedly told me that she had been asked to prom with this little car by a boy named Matt Goodrich. I had no idea who that was, but I was thrilled for her. No one had asked me yet and I was pretty sure no one would. I had worked hard to get a date to homecoming that year and couldn't even think of someone I'd like to take me to prom. Later that day, once school was out, she took me down the hall to an area that Matt and his friends hung out. I quickly noticed the two of his friends that I already knew and then she pointed Matt out to me. "Holy cow! He's hot!" was the first thing that came out of my mouth. She laughed and agreed. At that time, Matt looked very "skater." He had longer dark brown hair that was almost long enough to get in his eyes, wore a dark t-shirt, jeans, and skater shoes. In my eyes, he was the epitome of "tall, dark, and handsome."
After he asked my best friend to prom, I started seeing Matt around more and more. As prom approached one of Matt's friends, one of the two I already knew, started texting me. While we were chatting I mentioned that I hadn't been asked to prom yet. Not two days later, another one of Matt's friends, one I didn't know quite as well, asked me to prom. I later discovered that they had been looking for a date for him so that he could be in their group, so it was kind of a set up that benefited us both. When I discovered I would be going with the same group as my best friend, all of my worries vanished and I was as excited as ever.
My father brought me back up to Utah with our basic necessities just in time to enroll for the new school year. Little did I know then that my future husband lived within walking distance and I was enrolling in the school he currently attended. If I had known that, perhaps I wouldn't have wasted so much time my sophomore and junior year dating so many wrong guys.
At this time in Matt's life he was pretty happy. He was starting his junior year of high school and had a great group of friends. He had little to no interest in high school and like all teenage boys, he went to school with the intent of enjoying his friends and looking for a girlfriend. Life wasn't perfect but he was okay.
Like I said before, I spent the majority of my sophomore and junior years of high school dating all of the wrong guys. The fact is, I wasn't interested in short term commitments and these guys just weren't cutting it. When I went into a relationship, I went in looking for an eternal companion. Some relationships lasted longer than others, but it was usually around the time that I realized that I could/would/should not marry them that it would be over. For some that took all of a week, and for others as many as three months.
Matt and I went to a very large school of approximately 3,000 students, 1,000 per grade. He was a grade above me and yet it is almost laughable how many times we should have met in my first two years there. My sophomore year I had a class with two of his best friends and I was thoroughly entertained by their humor. Also in my sophomore year, I joined a club called Technology Students Association (TSA) with my two best guy friends. It was there that Matt first noticed me. He never spoke to me and I still had yet to meet him.
It wasn't until the end of my junior year as everyone prepared for the junior prom that I met him. My best friend came down the hall to our usual meeting place for lunch with a remote control her hands and a little car zooming ahead of her. She excitedly told me that she had been asked to prom with this little car by a boy named Matt Goodrich. I had no idea who that was, but I was thrilled for her. No one had asked me yet and I was pretty sure no one would. I had worked hard to get a date to homecoming that year and couldn't even think of someone I'd like to take me to prom. Later that day, once school was out, she took me down the hall to an area that Matt and his friends hung out. I quickly noticed the two of his friends that I already knew and then she pointed Matt out to me. "Holy cow! He's hot!" was the first thing that came out of my mouth. She laughed and agreed. At that time, Matt looked very "skater." He had longer dark brown hair that was almost long enough to get in his eyes, wore a dark t-shirt, jeans, and skater shoes. In my eyes, he was the epitome of "tall, dark, and handsome."
After he asked my best friend to prom, I started seeing Matt around more and more. As prom approached one of Matt's friends, one of the two I already knew, started texting me. While we were chatting I mentioned that I hadn't been asked to prom yet. Not two days later, another one of Matt's friends, one I didn't know quite as well, asked me to prom. I later discovered that they had been looking for a date for him so that he could be in their group, so it was kind of a set up that benefited us both. When I discovered I would be going with the same group as my best friend, all of my worries vanished and I was as excited as ever.
I think prom was the first time I officially "met" Matt. At the very least, it was the first time I referred to him by name talking directly to him. I was kind of terrified of him. I was sure he had to be the confident "I know I'm good looking" type and so surely he wouldn't look twice at me. Turns out, he jumped harder than I did when he heard me say his name and realized who had said it. The entirety of prom I wanted to dance with him. This wasn't helped by the fact that my date was just thrilled to be there with his friends and only danced with me once the whole night. My best friend and Matt were having a very similar experience. Sadly, I never got up the nerve to ask him.
About a week or so after junior prom, my friends decided it would be a great idea to invite Matt and his friends over to hang out. I, of course, made the mistake of telling one of my close guy friends that I liked Matt and that information was quickly relayed to him. Matt was thrilled but tried very hard the whole night to make sure I didn't know he knew. When they took me home that night Matt got out of the car with me. He told me that he liked me and would like to go out with me. From that day forward, Matt and I were officially a couple.
About a week or so after junior prom, my friends decided it would be a great idea to invite Matt and his friends over to hang out. I, of course, made the mistake of telling one of my close guy friends that I liked Matt and that information was quickly relayed to him. Matt was thrilled but tried very hard the whole night to make sure I didn't know he knew. When they took me home that night Matt got out of the car with me. He told me that he liked me and would like to go out with me. From that day forward, Matt and I were officially a couple.