Friday, January 18, 2013

Sickness and Six Months of Marriage

I was astonished to realize last week that Clark and I were coming upon our anniversary of six months! Now, while I'm not one to celebrate every month that we remain a united couple, I couldn't help but pay honor to this anniversary with everything it brought about.
As I woke up to the sun rising Monday morning, I began to panic as Clark was still in bed when he should have been 30 minutes into his work day!  It appears that we, try as hard as I might, had been hit with the flu! Clark was going to spend our six month anniversary in bed with a stuffed nose, low fever and scratchy throat.  I, on the other hand, went to work thinking of this poor man:

I spent all week nursing him back to health and after three days of being ill, he finally went back to work.  I had successfully nursed my husband back to health the way I had always seen my mother doing for my father growing up.  What I was in no way expecting was to go to work the day Clark had started going back to work to feel the onset of my own flu.  Wonderful, wonderful week we've been having!

So here we are, the now-married-six-months Harrop's, fighting off the flu and counting on the other to return us to health.  If nothing else, I've learned this week that there is nothing more I love than to care for my husband; perhaps this is what eternal marriage is all about.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Our Short Story

I'm beginning to wonder if I'm just a boring person.  I've thought and thought about how it is I'm going to keep up with my blogging but all in all, I'm finding I'm a rather boring person.  With no children and no pets it's just my handsome superman of a husband and myself.

Clark and I met during a church meeting in September of 2011.  The first thing that caught me was how incredibly handsome he stood as he bore his testimony and shared his sense of humor.  I made the decision that I had to meet him.  In my ever planning mind, I began scheming how I would arrange it just so I could get to know him more.  Later that day, the opportunity arose and I was hooked! I waited and flirted and waited for him to ask me out.  I waited SIX weeks until a friend finally convinced Clark he should ask me out.  We went flying on our first date, Clark has had his private pilot's license since before he could drive and it was the perfect fall evening of flying and pumpkin carving.


I had applied to grad school in Utah the end of September and was contemplating moving there the end of October to find a job and get settled in hopes of preparing for beginning with school the next summer.  Clark and I had been dating a couple weeks but by the second week of November I still felt I needed to take the journey up to Utah.  I packed up my entire life into my car and drove! By the time I had gotten to Provo, 9 hours away, I knew I was going to be moving back to Arizona.  Instead of turning right around and making my great expedition an 18 hour day I continued on my way and stayed for 2 weeks visiting friends and family and trying to piece together what I was going to do now and why I had made such the long journey.

Upon my return to Arizona, I had learned a few things: I did not want to go to grad school anymore and I wanted to continue to date Clark, luckily he wanted to do the same.  Four months later, on April Fool's day and at the Mesa Temple, we became engaged, it couldn't have been more perfect and I couldn't have been more surprised.

We were married in July, probably the HOTTEST time of the year in Arizona, but luckily on our wedding day, as we were coming out of the Temple, the skies opened up and began with a down poor.  It's good luck if it rains on your wedding day, right? Never the less, it was a perfect day to be sealed to my best friend and the most handsome guy I know.  I know most people say their spouse is their best friend, but I truly believe it.  We have quite the relationship and I am not sure I could have such a relationship with any other.

We moved into our house in August and have been learning and growing together.  Life is a journey, and this is just our work in progress.