Marriage and Leftovers. (The True Story)

I love this story. I think it shows how even when two people can come from very similar cultures, and have very similar beliefs, that we are still all very different.

A few weeks ago Charly was making dinner and I had just gotten back from work. I'm not exactly sure what she was making but I think that there was chicken with it. I love chicken. I'm trying to eat more proteins because I don't think I get enough during the day.

When I was growing up I was never much of a big eater and so my mom would pretty much let me eat as much as I wanted as long as there was enough for the other people in the family as well. That was what I was used to, so when Charly started putting the rest of the dinner in the fridge, after dishing some out for each of us, but before we had even started eating, I had no clue what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Saving some dinner for later," she replied as if it was obvious.

I looked down at my plate and back up at her, "Why?"

"Because that's just what you do. You make dinner, dish some out, put some in the fridge and save it for later."

Now, at this point in the story you should know that Charly often does things simply because she has seen someone else do it that way. I don't know if she has a good reason for it because often she doesn't tell me. She just says, "Because that's just what you do." I think it's really cute when she does this even if I don't understand it.

Back to the story.

"What if I want more?" I asked.

"You don't need more. We need to save this for later. It's called 'leftovers'," she said
.
"What?" I responded laughing. "That's not leftovers. Leftovers is when you eat all you can and then you put what is 'left over' into the fridge. You are putting some of the food away before we have even eaten. That is called 'rations.'"

Charly looked over at me and we both started laughing.

Moral of this story is that when you find the person you want to marry, remember that they are different from you and that the differences you have are good things. Look for them. Laugh at them. and expect them. They make marriage so much more adventurous.

Rations

I have to admit, I don't know a ton about cooking, but what little I do know, I learned from my mom. And my mom was an expert at cooking so that we would be able to make another meal of it. Naturally, then, when I got home from my last grocery shopping trip, I cut up and froze the chicken I had bought. I put three pieces in each bag, two to eat right then and one to put in the fridge for later.

One night, Ben and I got out the chicken and cut it up into little pieces. Ben then cooked it in just a little bit of oil over the stove. That's our favorite way to eat chicken. When he was finished, we put some of it into a casserole I was making. Then Ben started eating it straight out of the pan with a fork.

"What are you doing?" I asked, glancing at him while I scooped the casserole into a pan.

"Eating chicken," he said. I, of course, had already deduced this. When I had asked him what he was doing, what I really meant was, I don't actually want you to do what you are currently doing.

"Okay," I said, compromising. "Just don't eat all of it."

"I'll save some for you," he said.

"Okay," I agreed. "But I also want to put some of it in the fridge for later."

"Why?"

"Leftovers," I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Leftovers?" He asked, shaking his head. "That isn't leftovers. It's rations."

I laughed. "Yes huh. I put extra chicken in the bag for that exact purpose."

"Charly," he said, putting on his most serious face. "Leftovers is when you eat all you want and whatever is leftover you put in the fridge. This is rations."

"Benjamin!" I said exasperatedly. I was mostly joking. "I just want to save some chicken for another meal." I started towards the pan with a container in hand. Benjamin was still standing next to it, a piece of chicken stabbed onto his fork. He grabbed the handle of the pan and started moving away from me. I followed him and we started moving more quickly around the island counter top.

"Benjamin," I said again, my tone less of a joke now. "If we put this in the fridge, then we can eat it tomorrow, or I can put it in something else."

"Charly, do you know how much protein I need?" he asked.

I faltered. "No."

"A lot. Besides, look at this chicken. There isn't even enough left to make it worth saving."

"Thanks to you," I pointed out with a laugh. He shrugged, giving me his I-just-won-and-I-know-it face. I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I set the container on the counter and stabbed a piece of chicken with my fork.

"Trying to put me on rations," Benjamin said, shaking his head as he set the pan back down.

"Benjamin!" I said again. He grinned at me as I popped a piece of chicken into my mouth.

The Rain Adventure

Well, I'm not going to write about the time the Charly chased me through our apartment with a spray bottle... Even though I'm quite proud of the evasive maneuvers that I used to escape.

What I will write about is the adventure that we had Saturday night.

We were in Vernal. I was with Hannah and Charly was upstairs reading. Hannah and I went outside to jump on the tramp and it was raining. The cool air and cold raindrops felt good against my skin. I looked over at Hannah, wide eyed and excited.

"We should go get Charly," I said.
She looked back at me and grinned. "Yeah!" She answered excitedly.

We ran upstairs. I grabbed a paper on my brother Dalin's desk to use as a bookmark, I didn't want to loose Charly's spot when I kidnapped her. I ran from the desk over to Charly and put the bookmark in her book. Then I grabbed her hand and started dragging her out of the room.

"Where are you taking me?" She said smiling.
"Come Rook!" I answered in my silly voice.
"Benjamin, where are we going?" She said resisting my pull.
"An adventure!" I said.

She reluctantly followed me downstairs and outside onto the tramp. We started jumping in the rain. my little brother Caleb joined us and we played ring around the rosy.

The rain was making dark spots on our cloths.
"We are leopards!" I said. It took Charly a couple seconds to get the joke. She gave me her that's-ridiculous look.

I jumped off the tramp and grabbed a soft ball that was on the lawn. I threw it at Charly, Caleb and Hannah. It hit Caleb, bounced off and hit Charly.

"You're it Caleb!" I said. Caleb jumped off the tramp and I got back on. Caleb threw the ball at me and I dodged it just like the matrix. Charly was obviously impressed. The ball landed in some big green horse radish plants.

"Where did it go?" Caleb asked.
"It went in the Dinosaur plants," I answered.
Caleb got the ball and hit Hannah. We continued playing our game. It was still raining and we were getting quite wet.

Close to the end of our game both Caleb and Hannah were hit. They both got off to get the ball.
"It's you two against Charly and me!" I announced. "But don't expect to win because we've been to college." I said the last part in the most confident voice I could find.

I managed to do some more amazing matrix dodges but eventually I got hit.
"Charly and I lose." I said.

After our game the little adventure came to an end. I had a blast though and I'm sure that Caleb, Hannah, and Charly did as well.

The End

Adventure wanted.

Being married is great. Serious. You should all try it. Ben and I, though, recently realized that we have become somewhat boring since getting married. We haven't had too many adventures in the last little while. And we love adventures. 

So, Ben and I left our little home in Orem to come to Vernal for a week. We're currently staying with his parents. And upstairs, they have a wonderful little bookshelf of books. Last night, I picked myself a nice little book (the second The Work and the Glory, since I just finished the first one) and was reading upstairs. Ben was off playing some Nintendo games with his younger siblings, giving them some much-missed attention. 

My quiet reading space was disturbed when Benjamin ran into the room that I was reading in, followed by his little sister Hannah. Ben ran to the bed where I was sitting, stopped like he was looking for something, and then ran over to the dresser. There he picked up a folded piece of paper, which he proceeded to stick in my book before closing it. I get pretend-mad at him when he loses my spot in a book; it's an almost-daily occurrence.

He grabbed my hand and led me towards the door, not saying a word to my bewildered questioning. Hannah and Ben were both racing so fast, they were acting like the house was on fire. 

"Ben," I said, before willingly following. "What are we doing?"

He gave me one of his mischievous smiles. "Come on." 

"Ben," I laughed, letting him pull me to the door. "Come on to where?" 

"Come on," he said again. Hannah had disappeared down the stairs, so I followed Ben down the stairs and out the front door, Ben never letting go of my hand. 

It wasn't until we were outside on the porch that I realized what they wanted of me. I saw the rain, coming down in splattered clumps and Caleb already waiting on the tramp. My smile now matched Benjamin's. 

"Oh," was all I said. Hannah joined Caleb, then Ben. I was the last one on the tramp. We jumped and laughed, rain falling down on us. Ben grabbed a ball and we started a game. We had a grand old time of it. Ben's parents even came out and sat on the swing under the porch roof to watch.

Ben and I needed a good little adventure. Vernal fits the bill perfectly. 

A Love Story in 20 Lines.

Our Story in 20 lines. It's a complicated story but it's a good one and it's ours.

1. Charly and I first met before my mission going to a dance with my best friend Jeremy.
2. It was love at second sight when I ran into her again after my mission at Jeremy's Birthday.
3. I started subtly stalking her on Facebook because I had a huge crush on her.
4. I was very sneaky about it.
5. I got her number from Jeremy and asked her on our first date. We planned the date as a puppet show.
6. She was going on 100 dates with different guys and I was number 71. My plan was to be her number 1.
7. We laughed a ton on the first date and sat next to each other in the back of the car.
8. We didn't go on another date for a long time. I missed her but I also liked a different girl.
9. I started dating the other girl because she was closer but I still liked Charly.
10. I broke up with the other girl and asked Charly to go to a dance with me in downtown Salt Lake.
11. We started dating only each other. I wasn't ready to get married though and just wanted to date for fun.
12. We would always dance together to the music on my iPod. It felt so good to be together.
13. Charly decided to transfer out to Weber State University because that was where I was going to school.
14. We broke up before she transferred out and both of us moved home to stay with our families.
15. I tried dating other girls again but they all made me miss Charly. We were living more than 3 hours apart.
16. After about eight months I wrote her a letter telling her that I still loved her.
17. Charly sent me a story that was about her life after we had broken up. She already had a mission call.
18. When I read her story I fell in love with her all over again and decided that I would ask her to marry me.
19. Luckily for me she said yes and we were married for time and all eternity in the Bountiful temple.
20. This is the last line but it's not the end. Our story continues on and I'm excited to be writing it with her.

Our Story (In Only 20 Lines)

We met at my cousin's birthday party.
Ben liked me. I thought he was a creeper.
He asked me out.
I said yes.
That was the night I fell for Benjamin Anderson.

We started playing the "I like you but don't know if you like me" game. A year passed.
Then he took me dancing.
That night, we became official. It was both wonderful and awful.
Wonderful, because we were in love.
Awful, because it was long distance.

After six months of dating, we realized something in our relationship was off.
The timing just wasn't right. We knew it and the Lord knew it.
We trusted the Lord, so we broke up.
And my heart broke.
Four months later, we started talking again, just as friends.

Six months after we broke up, Ben told me he still loved me.
Eight months after we broke up, he wrote me a letter.
At this point, I had my mission call. He told me he wanted me to stay home and marry him.
So I did.
Best decision I have ever made.