One of my first goals when I began college in January of 2006 was to find a politically oriented club. None were represented at the recruiting freshman fair, and searching the school website only put me in contact with a few previous chairmen of College Republicans and inaccurate meeting information. Summer semester found me in a few political science courses and I was able to come into contact with people who knew where College Republicans met and when. I found out the information on a Wednesday, showed up to the Thursday meeting, and on Friday morning I was waiting in the MC circle to carpool down to Idaho Falls to volunteer for two days at the Idaho State Republican Party Convention with other members of College Republicans. I chatted with the girl who had helped me find College Republicans until we realized that everyone had worked out carpools while we were distracted. We looked around and noticed that the car right next to us still had room for two people. We hopped in and introduced ourselves to the two young men in the front seats. The person in the passenger seat in front of me turned around and introduced himself as Aaron Robinson. My evaluation? Good looking, but he seems kind of quiet and boring. Conversation about dating faux pas during the drive raised my curiosity because I found him to be intellectual, philosophical, logical, and surprisingly funny. I decided to get to know him better. Little did I know, Aaron is a very private person around new acquaintances. My efforts to get to know him coupled with his natural reserve around new people resulted in me reverting to my opinion that he was boring and withdrawn while he began to see me as a girl who asked too many questions. The next day we had the opportunity to meet potential presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney, at a steak dinner. Aaron brought a female friend to the dinner, and I noticed. She left early and I carpooled back with him, admittedly a little pleased to learn that things didn't click with him and his date.

For the rest of the semester I saw Aaron on Thursday meetings at College Republicans, occasionally spending time with him on campus afterwards, but not thinking too much of it. A group that included the two of us went out one weekend and I thought about potentially dating Aaron, but upon learning he wasn't a fan of dancing, my interest diminished and I actually ended up dating another young man from that group of people. My relationships following that one all seemed to piggy-back one another. I considered pursuing Aaron once or twice, but I had no interest in a serious relationship and knew that it was very risky to date a single senior at BYUI. I socialized with him at a couple other political events, but our different perspectives prevented those events from being a starting point for a relationship. To me, political events were about getting a break from dating, and to Aaron, the events were apparently a dating opportunity. So Aaron usually had a date, and I was usually committed to someone else or not looking. When both of us were finally emotionally available at the same time, Aaron was far from my mind and far from Rexburg. He graduated during my junior year and secured a job with Lockheed Martin in Illinois, near St. Louis. We talked on the phone a few times between late summer and Thanksgiving of the next year, mostly about politics. He continued to impress me, but I didn't think of myself as being someone to impress him and never thought much of it. I dealt with a serious illness in 2007 that sent me home from school and into spiritual boot camp. I came out of that year with a better perspective and new tool belt with which to approach life. I was not the same person. I didn't realize at the time that these changes were preparing me for some incredible events to take place in my life within only a few months.

I returned to school, ambitious as ever. I spent the first half of my semester going on weekend trips around the country to campaign for Mitt Romney. I also attended various political dinners with local leaders and spent some time with Glenn Beck. It was an incredible semester to be in political science. Somewhere in there I also went to class and worked my part time job to pay the bills. However, I began to feel that I wasn't supposed to be at BYUI. I ignored the feelings because I was content in my situation and didn't want to change again. Finally, I prayed about it and received the impression that I needed to transfer schools. I began to look into options of schools I could transfer to, purely based on political science programs. SIUe caught my eye almost immediately for the public administration emphasis in its undergrad program. It was located near St. Louis. My friends were concerned because of the recent shootings at NIU, but that of course only intrigued me. I remembered that Aaron had moved to that area the year before so I got back in touch with him and we started to talk about the gun sentiment in Illinois post-NIU-shootings. Meanwhile, I decided transferring schools was too big of a change and simply ridiculous when I had my whole year figured out already. I began to look into internship opportunities for the fall. I found one in St. Louis and one in Orange County. I pursued the Orange County one. It was an incredible opportunity; however, BYUI wouldn't sponsor it because only coed living was available. Frustrated but never defeated, I began to be a frequent caller to the St Louis County Department of Planning. Things were just about to be finalized with the internship, when the director realized it would be more economical to only take on summer interns, rather than fall. The St. Louis internship had already filled for the summer, but I knew I would run into this problem again since summer is a common time for internships. So, I began to look into the option of restructuring my year plan and not being at BYUI for the summer. Things fell perfectly into place; my new plan was better than my old one. As I continued to look for internships, the idea of transferring schools began to pester me again and made far more sense now that my plan was restructured anyway. I spent a lot of time on my knees and a lot of time doing research, and everything aligned almost perfectly for me to finally follow that prompting to transfer. I couldn't afford out of state tuition for SIUe and it would only take six months to establish residency in Illinois, so my plan was to live and work in Illinois for six months and then finish school in the spring. I still talked to Aaron about once a week at that point, so I asked him about the area and told him I'd be moving there and needed help finding an apartment and everything. He was very willing to help. Since we knew we'd be seeing more of each other, Aaron and I began to talk fairly regularly. My roommates began to comment on my improved mood after talking with him and would frequently catch me humming or smiling for no apparent reason. Of course they pinned Aaron as the cause and I couldn't find a reason to disagree. Aaron and I just spent time getting to know one another better and talked about our families, our childhoods, our friends, our pet peeves, and anything else we could come up with. Of course, since it was Aaron and I, all of these topics were intertwined with political innuendos.

I moved to Illinois on a Monday in April. When I arrived, Aaron was waiting at my apartment with an air mattress for me to sleep on and my favorite flowers: oriental stargazer lilies. My mom had driven across the country with me and flew home that Friday after helping me get settled. Friday night, Aaron and I spent some time alone with each other for the first time. I made him a simple dinner and he made the mistake of getting me addicted to 24 (I’m still completely addicted!). We played cards for a while too, but his ego couldn't handle me and my Bagel skills. After watching three episodes of 24, I began to fall asleep on his shoulder. Unexpectedly, Aaron kissed me. I was suddenly awake. I looked at him, surprised, and he, looking almost as surprised as I was, kissed me again. Then I pointed out this was technically our first date, and we both busted up laughing, watched the rest of the 24 episode, and I went back to my apartment. The next day we went rollerblading in Forest Park in St. Louis. It was a blast! Toward the end of the evening we stood on a bridge and talked. For two people who had pretty real commitment issues, the rate at which we connected threw us both off guard, but we were both very honest with each other about how we felt. We were basically on the same page; we felt that things were moving faster than we’d anticipated, but there were surprisingly no complaints or reservations with either of us.

We spent Sunday and Monday together as well. When I got home on Monday night, I felt odd. A thought crossed my mind and I was shocked at the idea and brushed it off. Ignoring it didn't last long. I hit my knees and asked the Lord to help me clearly identify my feelings for Aaron. I had barely begun to ask when I was overwhelmed by a feeling of peace and warmth. I decided it was just indigestion and went to bed. The next morning I included the same question in my morning prayer. I was half asleep, but again as I barely began to ask, I was immediately overwhelmed by the same feeling. "Ok I get it!" I wasn't going to say anything to Aaron right away because I was still trying to realize it myself, but when we were together that night he knew something was different and wanted to know what it was. After an almost solid two minutes of "um," I finally told Aaron that I loved him. I had never said that to another person in a romantic sense before and it was almost physically difficult to open up that much to him. I knew he didn't love me or anything, but that wasn't going to have an impact on how honest I was going to be about my feelings. But Aaron caught me off guard and told me that he was in love with me as well. We began talking about our experiences in realizing our emotions and we each had a strong spiritual witness that we were supposed to be together. Marriage naturally flowed into the conversation and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with the man in front of me. I told Aaron, "Well, the other day I was wondering if we were exclusive. Now I'm wondering if we're a whole other "E" word!" When we established that we weren't ready to tell people yet because it really wasn't official anyway, I told Aaron that he wouldn't be getting an official yes out of me anyway until he got a yes out of “this guy”...and I wrote my dad's number of a piece of paper for him. A couple days later, Aaron called my dad. He was so nervous! I almost felt bad for him. I assured him my dad would love him, but reminded him that my dad loved me first and he would have to ask my dad’s permission if he wanted to be the new man in my life. My dad made him squirm at first, but after a few minutes was very kind and welcoming. He told Aaron that he had to be able to provide for me, love the Lord, and love me. Aaron assured him that he fulfilled all of those requirements and my dad welcomed him to family.

On Friday we went to a single's activity and everyone was shocked to see Aaron on the dance floor with me. He's known for not being a fan of dancing, but he made every effort to have a good time with me that night. Aaron was going on a business trip the next week and we decided to go ring shopping when he got home. Unbeknownst to me, this decision was actually only a very effective distraction for Aaron’s real plans. Before we'd even talked about marriage, we'd planned a date for the Saturday before he left. We were going to have a candlelit dinner and dress up in 40s outfits. He had a zoot suit that he really wanted to wear. I went to Women's Conference that morning and then afterwards I went over to his apartment to make dinner. He blindfolded me before I entered the apartment because apparently there was a surprise in the living room that I couldn't see. So I made sprite chicken and tomato mozzarella salad while he labored away in the living room with his mystery that was driving me crazy with curiosity! When dinner was done, he said he decided not to change into his zoot suit because it would take too long and he didn't want the food to get cold. I was already dressed up from attending a church activity that morning, so he said I should just stay in that rather than change into my 40s dress. I thought that was kind of odd since I thought we’d planned the night around the outfits, but I was a little glad because I hadn't decided on how to do my hair and now I wouldn't have to. Aaron walked me into the living room and I saw that he had put white Christmas lights up all around the room! It was beautiful! He had moved the table into the room too, so we sat down to eat in the beautiful atmosphere Aaron had created for the evening. When we finished eating, I reached for his plate to take it into the kitchen. He caught my hand, and I turned in surprise, asking if he wasn't done eating yet. He said he was, but wanted to ask me a question first. I asked if it was big question, and he nervously said it was pretty big as he stood up. I stood slowly and he ran his hands along my arms and told me that I made him the happiest man alive. Then he got down on one knee, held out a ring and asked me to marry him. I was caught off guard and stood there for a second taking in the fact that there was a perfect man down on one knee in front of me with a perfect ring and a huge question. Then I realized I hadn't responded yet. "Yes!" I started to cry and he stood up and held me. Then he put the ring on my finger and I started to cry again. The ring was gorgeous but I really didn't take time to appreciate it that night. I was overwhelmed by how in love I was with Aaron and knowing we'd spend eternity with one another filled me with a level of happiness that I didn't know existed. I asked him to dance with me and we put on some slow music and danced and talked the rest of the night.

Looking back, the rapidity of our courtship absolutely shocks me! But looking at the big picture only fills my heart with gratitude for the blessings the Lord has given me. I was specifically and carefully prepared for this to happen at this time. Considering the analytical and skeptical approaches that me and Aaron respectively take to life, I’m certain that had we not gotten engaged quickly, we never would have. During our engagement, we have shared beautiful moments together, as well as moments of stress and frustration, and through it all I have found Aaron to be the most attentive, righteous, kind, thoughtful, patient, loving man I know. I fall in love with him more every day, and all I want to do is make him happy. Aaron is so good to me and so good for me. I was starting to think I would have to lower my standards if I was ever going to be satisfied with someone, but Aaron exceeded every expectation. He's incredible! The day after we got engaged, he left on a business trip for a week and I had such a difficult time being away from him. Life makes more sense when he’s around. He’s so patient with me and sweet to me. I know that making me happy is important to him and he does an incredible job. One of the things I love most about him is that he makes me the second priority in his life; the Lord comes first. Knowing that we both have our priorities in order makes our relationship so much more secure. We both agree on what we want out of life and we both love each other very much. We enjoy sharing our thoughts about religion with one another. We have similar goals in our personal lives and encourage each other in them. He enjoys all the nerdy things I love like Scrabble and puzzles and computers. We’re both logical and analytical and love politics. We both enjoy word plays and witty humor and we make each other laugh all the time. I hate to be criticized and he knows exactly how to correct me without offending me or putting me on the defensive. He gives me just enough information to correct myself and lets me work it out. We can tell each other anything and even when it doesn’t come out right, we know what we mean. Our communication is fantastic and I’m constantly amazed by how well we can convey things to one another. We know about the skeletons in each other’s closets and we love each other that much more for knowing what made us who we are. When I’m with Aaron I love who I am and I feel optimistic about the future. He reminds me so much of my dad and I feel confident that our children will respect and adore him to no end. He’s helped me realize how similar I am to my mom and how wonderful that is. He comes from an excellent family that I already feel a part of thanks to how good they’ve been to me. My parents, brothers and sister all like Aaron a lot, and that means the world to me. He’s a man who deserves everything I could ever possibly give him and more. I trust him with my whole heart and I love him so much more than I can say. I'll be completely happy and fulfilled if I can spend the rest of my life at his side making him happy. I know Aaron and I can face anything as long as we're a team.
Team Robinson! :)