I met Sherry while attending BYU in January of 1994. I had just returned from my mission one year earlier and had begun my second semester at BYU since returning. At the time, I had already “decided” that I would get serious about dating and marriage in the fall semester of 1994. But that was before I met Sherry, the girl of my dreams.
I was staying in a condo called Chatsworth on the south side of campus. One of my roommates announced that he had a date coming up, and that the girl (Sherry) was really smart and talented and that he needed a good date idea. I was working the night of the date at Magleby’s (a nice restaurant in Provo) and could not make use of a basketball game ticket. One of my other roommates, Kurtis Parker, could not use his ticket either, and since both tickets were for adjacent seats, we gave our roommate our tickets to the BYU basketball game (vs. Air Force). Our apartment had also just acquired a big screen TV (a big deal at the time), so we also suggested to our roommate that after the game he bring his date back to the apartment and watch a movie together.
I went to work and came home tired. When I arrived, the movie was underway and that is when I first saw Sherry. I went upstairs to change and shower and then sat down to watch the movie with everyone (no one invited me, but it was a communal TV). After the movie ended the light came up and we all began to talk. I became very interested in Sherry. It wasn’t long before Sherry and I were talking with each other exclusively, leaving my roommate, Sherry’s date, out of the conversation. He eventually left the room and went into the kitchen to do the dishes. Finally he came back out and offered to drive Sherry home. I went to bed that night very impressed with Sherry and wanting to see her again.
The next morning I asked my roommate if he planned to ask Sherry out again. He said no, citing that Sherry and I clearly had more in common. He gave me Sherry’s phone number. I called Sherry and asked her out on a date. We dated for about a month or two and things were going great. I knew I loved Sherry, but I started to get cold feet. One night I told Sherry that maybe we should date other people for a while. That began what we now call “The Two Week Lull.” We did date other people, but Sherry did more dating than me, which of course made me jealous and helped me realize how much she meant to me (during that time I was the recipient of a delicious mint chocolate ice cream pie from a girl in my ward that Sherry and I still laugh about).
After two weeks of dating other people, I came to my senses and realized that Sherry was the girl for me. One weekend evening I tried to call Sherry, only to learn that she was on a date. I waited for her to come home, then went over to her house. We talked late that evening, and it was then that I told Sherry that I was thinking about marriage. We began to date each other exclusively. One of our dates was to the Provo temple. We were asked to be the witness couple. We told the officiator that we were not married, and he responded that “The Lord wants you to be a couple.” That was a sign to both of us that we were meant for each other. In the celestial room Sherry told me that she loved me for the first time.
I proposed to Sherry at a park in Provo near the end of the semester (the muffler fell off my car on the way to the park and after the proposal I pointed out to Sherry a dead duck floating in the nearby pond). We were married in the Portland temple on June 17, 1994, just about 5 months after we met. We are still happily married and Sherry is still the girl of my dreams more than ever. I love you Sherry!!!!
