first kiss

Aaron kissed me for the first time on Feb 3, 2000. (Our #2 son, Luke, was born exactly 3 years later.. ahhh.) It wasn't a typical environment or place for a first kiss. It was a Thursday night about 9 pm. I had to go on campus to prepare for something the next morning and we were sitting on a bench in the hall of the Clark building. I'm not sure how long we were there talking, but probably a couple of hours. Up until that point, Aaron and I had always been comfortable talking... but this night was different. I would never have admitted it at the time, but I was really nervous. Not necessarily to kiss him, but because I knew everything was going to change and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Somewhere in the middle of our discussion, I said to him, "How long are you going to wait to kiss me?" Although Aaron wasn't shocked by the fact that I said what I was thinking, he didn't think it was the most romantic setting. But he planted one on me anyway. Fireworks didn't go off, but there was plenty of time for that to happen later.

I remember one very significant part of the conversation that night and it had nothing to do with our first kiss. While sitting there in that hallway on that uncomfortable bench, Aaron pulled out his wallet and showed me a picture he'd been carrying around since he was twelve. It was a worn baseball picture of his friend, Patrick. Aaron moved around a lot when he was younger. About every two years, his family picked up and moved... typically it was to a new state. Aaron talked about how hard that was for him, how hard it was to make friends. In 1989 his family moved to Texas and the first friend he made was Patrick. They were in the same class at school and attended church together. Patrick was also new to the area. He and Aaron had the same goofy sense of humor and they instantly became best friends. Patrick's dad owned (or managed) a local hotel and on the weekends, Aaron and Patrick got a room all to themselves to hang out and watch movies. One particular Friday night, Aaron packed his bag after talking with Patrick on the phone... they were heading to the hotel later that night and Aaron was looking forward to it. But just after the phone call, Patrick was hit by a truck while riding his dirt-bike in front of his house. Aaron's dad was available to give Patrick a priesthood blessing after the accident, but it was too late. They believe he was killed on contact.

This was a really significant event in Aaron's childhood. Going back to scouts, church and school was extremely difficult for Aaron after Patrick's death. He remembers the first day he went back to school after the funeral. He sat down in his desk and looked over at Patrick's empty desk and just started sobbing. Thankfully the teacher changed the seating chart the next day. Aaron kept Patrick's picture in his wallet and has never taken it out. It is still there today... When Simon was born, we struggled coming up with a middle name for him. After talking about it for a couple of days, we knew that Simon Patrick sounded just right. After Simon was born, I asked Aaron if he wouldn't mind writing about Patrick so we could have it for Simon's baby book... he may eventually get around to it, but even after 20+ years, it's still too emotional for him.

So today, I am writing my version of the story... the first time I heard about Patrick. It happened to be on the night of our first kiss, but it was also the first night that I realized I loved my husband. Listening to him talk about such a difficult time in his life was really special for me. We had been friends for a long time and during that time, Aaron had seen me cry a dozen times. But this was a side of Aaron I had never seen before. And I liked it. The more I got to know him, the more I wanted to know him better.