*in progress*
The Day We Met
I've known who he was since the end of 7th grade. Some of my friends pointed him out to me because they thought he was cute and I wasn't on the bandwagon... yet.
In 8th grade we had health class together. The teacher was talking about about genetics and how and why everyone looks different. We then did an activity, some sort of Biological Trait Bingo. We were each given a Bingo-ish chart and every square had a different trait written in it- blue eyes, taller than 6 ft, can roll their tongue, etc. Gavin approached me and asked me my name. I said Madi. He responded with "Madi has a hairy chest," wrote my name down, and walked away. He says he doesn't remember this.
Then We Were Friends...
Even though I had a mad crush on him after the previous insult. We'd hang out at football games, date each other's friends. We held hands once or twice. My girls and I thought we were funny and we'd leave him fake love notes and prank call his house. We took ballroom together and he saved me whenever it was my turn to dance with the creepy guy. We were basically in love from day 1. And it always frustrated me he never liked me back. I'd give up and date other guys, then like him again. Then date other guys, then like him again. It was a viscous cycle.
Then We Kissed...
A couple months after graduation, he got his mission call. We hung out a lot, like friends do. Feelings were there but I had given up. One night we sneaked onto a nearby golf course (which was a common occurrence between my group of friends, but this particular night), blew up a raft, took it onto the pond with a portable DVD player, watched the Wedding Singer, and made out. Like kissed a little bit. He'd done this with a few girls and I was just one who fell for it and I guess he liked it enough.
He Left, We Wrote
A short couple months later, he left on his mission. We had spent almost every night together the past couple of weeks, hiking and driving and mostly rafting at odd hours of the night. I thought I was going to die when he left and I guess he had a hard time leaving too. We wrote a couple times a month at first which died down quickly. We continued to write each other about every two months until the end of his mission. A couple months before he came home he wrote me a letter and said he didn't want to date me when he got home, but he still wanted to be friends.
Other Men
He wrote me off but I threw it back at him. He had only been gone a couple months when I started dating other people and I might have been kissing these other people too. I told him the truth which was that I had been dating someone else for about a year and this someone else just left on a mission so I was writing him too. I was pretty committed to this other missionary but didn't tell Gavin about it previously because I wanted to keep the door with us open. Then after this missionary left I started dating another someone else. The joys of a 18-19 year old in the Mormon dating world!
Gavin Came Home
He completed his two years of full time service in October of 2010. He wrote me a letter saying when he was coming home and where I should meet him but I didn't get the letter until he had been home a week. At this point I was dating that other someone else while writing that other missionary. Go me. Gavin and I hung out a little bit when he first got home, which my boyfriend and missionary were not happy about, but I knew Gavin was just on the friend level with me... until in December he told me he still had feelings for me and wanted to date me again. I told him I wanted to see where things went with my boyfriend and I was still going to write my missionary. A couple days later I broke up with my boyfriend and continued to hang out with Gavin.
Dating Again
It was easy to hit it off with Gavin again. We kissed early January at "the silos" and we kept kissing for the next 6 months. Eventually he told me he loved me. I wish I had more details on this, or even a date, because he was so cute. He told me he knew I wouldn't say it back but he wanted to let me know how he felt. I had just opened my garage to go back inside after a night hanging out. And I might have known it was coming and egged it out of him a little...
I was open with Gavin about the missionary and vice versa but it was a topic we all liked to avoid for obvious reasons. The missionary was set to come home in August, so by July I had to make a decision. I decided I wanted to date the missionary.
Looking back on it, I don't know why I made that decision when things with Gavin and I were going so well; it was just something I felt like I needed to do. Because I felt like I owed it to the missionary?? Because if Gav & I were to get married and go through hard times, I didn't want to look back and say what if I married the other guy?? Because I still got excited when I thought about seeing the missionary when he came home?? Because writing off a missionary would mean that I was in love and committed and I didn't like any of those words at the time?? I don't know. So I told Gavin the decision was made. We both cried. It was a nice mix of drama and a reality check. Gavin told me he still wanted to date me until the missionary got home. Mad respect for him there, considering all the crap he got for it. I now realize how risky that was on his part... to get even more attached...but I'm glad he took that risk. So we set a breakup date. We planned for me to take a camping trip with his family in July, then we planned to break up on August 14th, 2011. (The 14th because our first kiss anniversary was the 11th and the missionary return date was the 16th).
We went on the camping trip and I felt so much love to and from Gavin and his family. I don't remember if I said the "L" word to Gavin at Fish Lake that summer, but I know I felt it.
I had some travel credits and originally planned to use them to visit the missionary in Alaska; instead I used them to visit a friend in Alabama the second week of August. It was a nice way to separate myself from Gavin before the actual 'break up'. While I was in Alabama, Gavin sent me a package full of candy and love songs. This was the week before I was ending things with him. What a champ! I don't remember anything about the night of the 14th except for the fact that we went through with the breakup. I've literally blocked that night out. I do remember seeing his mom at the grocery store the next day, giving her a hug, then walking out to my car and crying.
Then My Dating Life Became a Teenage Romance Novel
My missionary came home. I was excited and all, but continued to have feelings for Gavin. After a couple weeks of solely dating/hanging out with the missionary, I started seeing both him and Gavin again. This was about the time that the new "Twilight" movie was coming out and people were either "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob." Most of my friends and family picked which team they were on according to my love life, and most of them were pretty open about which team they were on too!
Writing about this kind of makes me sick to relive.
Even though I was dating two guys, I didn't have intentions to be a "player", so I refused to kiss either of them until I knew what I was going to do. This doesn't mean that they didn't kiss me on the cheek and head and hands, and hold my hand, etc. I came home to my roommates a couple of times saying "guess how many boys told me they loved me today", and distraught about it because they both meant it.
Decision Made
We refer to this day as the day the shiz hit the fan haha. One boy was over at my apartment and the other boy showed up and it was dramatic and my great friend Brent yelled at me to make a decision. I knew in my heart what I wanted, it was just so hard to let the other one go when I knew he was a great guy. That night, I broke up with the missionary for good but told Gavin that I needed a couple days. I finally kissed Gavin again a few days later but I was a little nervous that Gavin wouldn't like me now that there was no competition for the first time in our relationship!
The Proposal
Fast forward 6 months and we were ready to really commit! We had gone ring shopping, so I knew he'd pop the question soon.
It was a Saturday- March 24, 2012. I had some lacrosse games in Salt Lake that Gavin attended with Brent. They drove me home and Gavin asked if I wanted to go out to dinner that night. I asked Gavin if I should change my clothes so we could go to a restaurant, or if I should just keep my sweats on and go grab food somewhere. Gavin said he didn't care. Brent told me to shower and change my clothes haha.
Gavin walked me to my door and asked if I wanted to go rafting after dinner. (We had a hobby of sneaking a little blow-up raft onto random ponds late at night. Our first kiss was on this raft on the Riverbend golf course pond in 2008.)
I always kind of assumed he'd want to propose to me at the golf course. (Because yes, all eight of you other girls who went there with him, that is our special place.) I had no idea that he had the ring yet or that he had talked to my dad or anything, but when he suggested going to the golf course, I got hopeful that he would pop the question. I kept mentally shutting the idea down because I didn't want to get my hopes up and it didn't make sense because he acted like he didn't have a plan for the night.
He picked me up a few hours later and took me to Olive Garden. Then we went to his house and I talked to his mom while he pumped up the raft and put a blanket in the car. We parked across the street from the golf course and sneakily dodged cars and hopped the fence and headed towards the pond with the raft.
We got to the pond and there was no water in the pond! In my head I was thinking "If he is going to propose tonight and wants to do it on the golf course, I don't want him to be disappointed about the pond and I don't want him to wait until there is water here" so I told him I was fine with just hanging out on the green (which was true).
Once or twice before, we had gone rafting on this pond off the Jordan River, where there is a little wooden trail and gazebo and duck feeders. Gavin asked if I wanted to go there. I said no because I got creeped out on the Jordan River trail at night and I didn't want to walk that far and it was getting cold. He was like "I don't remember the pond being that far of a walk" and I argued that it was and that we shouldn't go. He asked "Do you trust me?" I said yes, and we went.
At this point, I wasn't really expecting anything, because Gavin didn't seem to care too much that we couldn't raft at the golf course. He also didn't seem like he had much of a plan for the night. So, we walked down the Jordan River trail with the raft. We got to the turn-off where the gazebo was so I turned to head down that path. The little trail was lined with candles and flowers and inside the gazebo was a bouquet of roses.
We got to the gazebo and Gavin got down on one knee and proposed. Of course I said yes! Then his friends came out of hiding, took some pictures of us (and with us), then left us alone. We still put our tube in the water for a bit, then headed home to tell our families.A Forever Family
We were married in the Jordan River Temple August 16th, 2012. We had a beautiful wedding and celebration, surrounded by family and friends. We were both 22 years old. Gavin was still attending school, I had graduated in psychology. I worked at treatment centers for a few years, and Gavin worked at an insurance agency. We lived in a two bedroom basement apartment. The apartment was old, but it was a dream situation- we only paid $400 dollars a month, and the elderly landlords (The Stucki's) spent half the year in St. George. We lived really close to Gavin's grandparents (and really only a couple miles away from both our parents).
We had our first baby in November of 2014. Owen Thomas Scott!He was definitely not planned but we are so grateful that he came into our lives when he did! Gavin was still in school! Gavin quit his job a few months after Owen was born and I continued to work. My mom helped watch Owen while I was working and Gavin was studying.
We were able to live in the same basement until Gavin finished school in 2016.
In September of 2016, we moved to Dallas, TX for Gavin's first real job as a CPA!
We had our second baby in June of 2018- J Richard Scott.
We are still in an apartment in Dallas. It's been an adventure in Texas to say the least! We won't be here forever, but we are enjoying living here now.
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