“Hi Amy! You have a really nice smile. :)”
I received that message from a guy with gorgeous blue eyes
late in the evening on July 5th. He asked for my number on July 9th,
took me on a date July 10th, on a second date July 11th,
and the rest, as it turns out, is history.
Three weeks before that, I wrote a blog post about turning
31, how hard it was, how difficult it was to hold onto hope, and that it was
exhausting to continue watching the people around me land their “25 inch trout”
while my constant reeling wasn’t yielding results.
Spencer Hunter is the youngest of 2, with a married sister.
We share a deep love of books, movies and music – he has a voice that makes me
weak at the knees. He’s very intelligent, a hard worker, and ambitious. He
brings out my silly side, but we have equally as many intellectual
conversations as ridiculous. He’s patient and isn’t afraid of facing hard
things in life. He has a spectacular family, who have accepted me without
question. More than anything, he’s the kindest human being I’ve ever known. He
makes me happy, calms me down, and lifts me up.
Our initial messaging conversation was full of movie quotes,
debates about our favorite books, excitement over upcoming movies, and a
healthy dose of hope. The weeks after we started dating felt happy and overwhelming
to me. My long, painful dating history
made me wary and nervous about any guy who showed enthusiasm for me, and I kept
waiting for the other shoe to drop, while at the same time enjoying every second
of getting to know this incredible man. The night he told me he loved me for
the first time, I simply responded with, “I know.” He has been so patient, so
loving, so encouraging as he waited for my insecurities to fall away. Our
relationship has been shockingly easy, but real. We are different in ways that
compliment each other and similar in ways that make it simple. 
Two weeks ago, he told me that if I “wanted to dress nice on
Wednesday, that would fun.” As in so many things, he knew me well enough to
know that I’d want a heads up that something special was going down. When he picked
me up, he handed me a flower and told me that the theme of the evening was “Just
go with me.” On my seat in the car was another flower, a jewelry box, and a
card. Spencer is incredibly gifted with
his words, and he had written me a beautiful poem – at the end of each stanza
was a question. The first question he asked me was, “Beloved, will you go with
me?” and inside the jewelry box was a luggage lock.
We drove to downtown Salt Lake and walked around temple
square. As we got to the reflecting pool, there was another card, another jewelry
box, and more flowers. The second stanza ended with the question, “Beloved,
will you build with me?” Inside the box was a house key. (Apparently his dad
was standing guard nearby, but I was a little distracted and didn’t notice.)
From there we went to the Roof Restaurant, where the last
stanza of the poem, jewelry box and roses were waiting. The final question he
wrote was, “Beloved, will you create with me?” and inside the box was a
pacifier. (And yes, I was sobbing by this point.) Dinner was spectacular – we sampled
every single dessert they had. When it was over, he grabbed my hand, said
again, “Just go with me.” And we walked back to the car.
He told me to put on some music, as we had a bit of a drive
ahead of us. I threw on the playlist of my favorite love songs, and we
listened, sang and mostly just grinned at each other. As we were pulling off
the freeway, our love song came on (totally not planned). It’s a country song
that I first heard a few weeks after we started dating, and the first time I
heard it, I started crying because it so perfectly captured what I was feeling,
fearing, and hoping.
You say what if I
hurt you, what if I leave you?
What if I find
somebody else and I don't need you?
What if this goes
south, what if I mess you up?
You say what if I
break your heart in two then what.
Well I hear you girl,
I feel you girl but not so fast,
Before you make your
mind up I gotta ask:
What if I was made
for you and you were made for me?
What if this is it,
what if it's meant to be?
What if I ain't one
of them fools just playin' some game?
What if I just pulled
you close, what if I leaned in,
And the stars line up
and it's our last first kiss?
What if one of these
days baby I'd go and change your name?
What if I loved all
these what ifs away?
After the song finished, he switched the music over to his
phone to play me a song. He’s mentioned several times that he had a favorite
love song, but has never told me what it is, nor let me listen to it. Don
McLean came over the radio, singing, “And I love you so / The people ask me how
/ How I’ve lived till now / I say that I don’t know.” Just as the Timpanogos
temple pulled into sight, the strains of “Peace Like a River” flowed through
the car, and we both started crying. He walked me to the front of the temple,
asked if I would go with him, if I would build with him, if I would create with
him, if I would marry him.
Yes. Every day, yes.
