The Countdown

December 2004-

I was completely in love with my boyfriend. I knew that I wanted to marry him. I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I knew that he was the right person for me, but I also knew that it was not the right time. He needed to serve a mission. He needed to serve God the way that God asked him to, by sacrificing 2 years of his life to serve and teach the people of Argentina. December 25, 2004 I flew on an airplane to his house to say goodbye to him and to start counting down the 2 years until I would see him again.

December 2006-

I was still completely in love with my boyfriend and he was returning from his mission in a matter of days. It had been the hardest 2 years of my life. For those 2 years I wrote him letters every week. I made sure that those letters were encouraging and not distracting. Although I loved him desperately, I kept the letters focused on the work he was doing, not my feelings. I had not gone on a date for 2 years. I said no to everyone who asked or plotted to have me leave my missionary. In my room I had a candy countdown marking the days until my boyfriend would return from Argentina and we could resume our relationship.

December 2008-

I was 8 months pregnant and my husband (who used to be that missionary boyfriend) and I were counting down the days until we would meet our firstborn son. We were so excited, we even had presents under the tree for him. Those were long days of braxton hicks contractions and anticipation.

December 2009-

Our 10 1/2 month-old son and I are counting down the days until daddy is done with finals and he can play with us. We are so excited that he will be done with his hardest semester of law school and will be able to celebrate the holidays with us. Jif and I are so proud of all the hard work that he is doing and we know that he is doing it for us. He has a final tomorrow and a final on Friday and we know that he will rock them. Christmas countdowns have a lot of meaning in our family. All of them have been special and worth it! Now I just need an advent calendar, maybe I’ll make one.