Yes We Jan

It was just a short 7 or so years ago that I first met Jan. It was a set-up blind date from a brave friend we both had in common. I liked her immediately but committed a number of faux pas' on the date such as answering my cell phone, scandalously announcing that I 'couldn't stand' the sound of people kissing, and  bizarrely, bringing along an entire thing of uncooked cookie dough for an 'activity,' because everyone loves standing around while cookies are baking, right?

She remained officially uninterested, but I eventually wore her down by sending her numerous mix CDs and trying way too hard to be funny in emails. When all my competition fell through, she agreed to settle and a marriage was born!

It hasn't been all laughs the entire time. Along the way we've had to deal with unplanned C-sections, unplanned surgery, and unplanned tornados. Oh, and the whole 'moving away from everything we've ever known and loved and setting up in a tiny apartment about 15 inches from one of the world's largest airports' thing. We dealt with that, too. Somehow, she's stuck with me the entire way. Mostly because her phone would run out of power long before she could ever find her way back to Utah.

Today my girl is a spry 36, and is as funny as ever. One of my favorite off-the cuff Jan moments was when we walked by a big truck and I talked about how that would definitely have to be her next car. "Not if I have to pole vault to get into it," she said. Ha! Well, maybe you had to be there.

Lots of love to 'Momma' from Christian, Madeleine, Zoe, and New Baby Hoopes!