The text that never came

Being from a small valley everybody assumes that if you and your significant other went to the same high school, you were either high school sweethearts, or you knew one another. In our circumstance this assumption is wrong. My wife and I went to the same high school, but we did not know each other. She is two years younger than me and when I was a senior she was a sophomore. I don’t think I knew a single person her age at the time…besides my sister…actually, that statement stands. I don’t think I knew a single person her age at the time.

 Also Aleece is a female, this fact alone made me completely incapable of knowing her in high school. Only in priesthood quorum or in isolated conversations with my best friend Aaron was I a ladies man. AKA…when there were no girls present. But as soon as girls were around I had no game. Por eso, I stayed mainly in the gym playing basketball during lunch, after school, in-between classes…during classes… you know, only when I was supposed to.

Well, it turns out that Aleece and I did have a class together. Early morning seminary. In Utah, the large concentration of Mormon students lets students get out of school and walk to seminary buildings that are right next to the school. In these classes you get to hear the gospel according to (insert seminary teachers name here)

 Usually you don’t have to take early morning unless you are insane – or, you’ve failed a few too many classes throughout high school and you don’t have room in your schedule to spare an extra hour and your mom makes you graduate seminary even though you don’t care to, but she threatens to take your car away if you don’t. Which, neither of those was me… ahem.

So what I’m getting at is…Aleece and I had a seminary class together. I did not know that because of the “general conference” room.  In order to keep the spirit locked in the class, the seminary teachers posted signs outside their doors saying that if you were late you had to go into the “general conference” room and sign your name. Here you would watch old recordings of general conference. The best part was they had no teachers in that room. I think they trusted the integrity of the students, so Aaron and I would show up late, sign our names and then go play basketball for an hour before school. By the end of the semester I had passed, dribbled and shot my way through seminary. Hey, it was their fault for keeping the spirit hostage like that.

This is why neither of us made it to the NBA... It has nothing to do with the fact that we are two skinny white kids under 6 feet tall... 

Proof that at least one of us could have possibly made it... 

Anyway, the way Aleece and I really met was working at Little Caesars after my mission. It was definitely not love at first sight. We were both seeing other people and after a few months of working together Aleece didn’t like me at all. But then, one day, while making pizzas, my hand and her hand went for the same pepperoni and a connection was made…an unbreakable connection! I immediately asked her out. We went on a few dates and fell deeply in love. I made all the right moves and we were passionately in love with each other! I was so brave, committed, and honest with her! It was a love of legends. Romeo and Juliet—HA!  Odysseus and Penelope – NO! Tristan and Isolde – Please! This was stronger than any other love story in the world.

NOT.

The reality of it is -- Aleece scared the crap out of me. For months I watched her while we worked and tried to find something wrong with her. There was nothing. She was kind, hardworking, funny and beautiful. (That list could go on much longer!)

The day I asked her out I was shaking… It was Sunday, and I couldn’t wait any longer. Aleece and I had been hangin out together for a month but I still didn’t dare ask her out. She was leaving for a vacation later that week and wouldn’t get back til my family and I had already left for ours. Oh man, I really wanted to take her on a date before we left. So I went into Little Caesars with a plan.

 I was still in my church clothes, lookin sharp. I asked Aleece if I could talk to her about the schedule. So we went over to where the schedule was hanging up and I said, “on this day,” and I pointed at Wednesday, “would you like go to dinner with me?” She looked up quick, she had expected me to ask her to work for me. She looked at the schedule, “yes!” she said. “Oh, but I have to work that night.” “Have you not looked at your phone,” I asked slyly. “What?” She quickly pulled her phone out of her apron pocket. She then read a message from my little brother, (who also worked at Little C’s) “Hey Aleece, can I work for you on Wednesday? I need the hours.” 

Yes, this lead Aleece to believe that I was very smooth.

This is what it took to get my brother to agree to do that though...this was when we were younger. But once you've seen one brotherly squabble, you've pretty much seen them all.

 So we went on a date later in the week and I grew to like her even more.

The next day she left for a family reunion. She got back on Sunday, a couple hours before my family left for our vacation and I went over to see her before we left. We talked… and that’s all. But, I don’t think I had ever loved someone as much as I did that girl.

My five person family crammed into a five seated car and drove a four hour drive that would drive anyone a bit crazy. By the time we stopped for the night to stay in a hotel Nelson and I had just about had enough of each other. And Beth just hated both of us. She was strategically placed in between Nelson and me to make the car ride bearable for everyone else. Sacrifice the one for the needs of the many.

20 hours round trip... Good thing we love each other!

 Once we got to the hotel Nelson and I both made a mad scramble to get control of the remote for the television. We wrestled and fought for it, at one point I somehow found myself at a disadvantage. As Nelson was reaching out for the remote and I, in no position to make a move, playfully flung my cellular device across the room -- and by some miracle, it hit him in the side of the head. I leaped across the room and grabbed the remote while my brother was momentarily stunned. Victory!

 

Nelson is Gollum, the remote is Frodo, and I am Sam. 

(Skip to 54 seconds for a quicker replay of what transpired)

 I then picked up my phone, turned on the television, and began to text Aleece. (I had been texting her all day) In some form of…poetic justice, or just downright stupidity, my phone would no longer respond. It would turn on, it looked fine, but it was just broken. Nelsons stupid head had broken my phone.

I tried everything I knew to fix it. I took the battery and SIM card out and restarted it -- nothing. So with no options left, I threw it against the wall -- still nothing.

The next day my phone was not receiving or sending any messages or calls. I figured I’d be okay, it’s only a week without seeing, texting, calling or communicating with Aleece… Boy, was I ever wrong! The destination of our trip was the Hiawatha bike trail in Montana. We were going through Coeur d’Alene. It was about a nine or ten hour trip total. So the entire next day we drove to Wallace Idaho and stopped through there. The movie Dantes Peak was made there. You know Dantes Peak right? It’s the movie with Peirce Brosnan that made you deathly afraid of volcanoes when you were 10 years old. You’d lay awake in bed at night hoping the volcano closest to your house didn’t blow up cause you’d die of acidic water eating your legs off. Or…that’s just me. I worry. And because I worry, with no other form of proof, without my phone and constant communication with Aleece, I knew she was forgetting more about me each day. So day by day… I slowly lost my mind.  

Day 1: We had an awesome bike ride on the Hiawatha trail...

By Day 3 I had officially snapped...

The vacation was wonderful! We rode the Hiawatha bike trail, wandered the streets of Coeur d’Alene and Wallace Idaho and stayed in some of the dumpiest hotels imaginable. In fact, there was still a leftover piece of pizza in the fridge when we checked into one of the hotel rooms. All the while my phone stayed broken and I wondered if Aleece still remembered me. In my mind she had forgotten me on day one, found another guy on day two, got engaged on day three, and was married on day four.

Luckily, by day four we got out of the woodland shopping areas and hippie stores and found a mall somewhere in Idaho. By this time, my family was aware of my anguish. We stopped at the mall so I could run into the T-Mobile store and get my phone fixed.

In the store I explained to the worker what was wrong with my phone. They did a few different things to try and restore it but none of them worked. So I ended up completely buying a new phone… (Which they advised against because it was possible that the SIM card was broken) But I did not care. So I bought a cheap (50 dollar) phone and put my SIM card in it. I turned on the phone and waited for it to load...

Suddenly, the phone began to vibrate. 

OH! Could this be Aleece??

Or maybe this one!??

Wow, she missed me!...

  Finally, my phone stopped vibrating...

Okay, I'm going to have a lot to tell her about! First I need to text and apologize to her for not responding!

Uuuuuhhhhhh.... WHHHHHAAAAAAT????????

 So, is it just me, or does anyone else find something wrong with this picture here? ^^ What's missing? I had been gone for four days, I was expecting a sudden influx of text messages. However, I was hoping for especially one in particular. But it never came! This amazing girl, who I was totally missing, and madly in love with had not texted me a single time within the last four days! Not a single text! Despite the fact that we had been having a fun conversation minutes before Nelson broke my phone!

Not even a butt dial...

 Luckily, with a lot of prodding from me-- we decided to cut our vacation a day or two short. We were all tired and wanted to get back home and get a head start on the weekend. When I had finished picking up the pieces of my shattered heart I decided to text Aleece, even though she obviously wanted nothing to do with me! 

When she responded she sounded excited to hear from me, and my spirits were revived. I made plans with her for later that night. We decided we'd watch What Lies Beneath at my apartment and go get Slurpees. 

I don't know what it was, but that night I decided I didn't ever want to feel like I could lose Aleece ever again. So that night I finally held her hand, we cuddled, and I told her exactly how much I liked her. I poured out my heart and soul, I told her how miserable I had been because I couldn't text her or talk to her over the trip and the things I did just to get my phone working to be able to hear from her again.

And thank goodness she felt the same way... 

Cause it all kinda worked out...

                                                                THE END