Christmas Secret

Happy revealing-of-my-secret day everyone!

So, I'm sure you're all wondering just what's going on and what the deal is about my secret. Here it is.

Tif and Jo Aug 2011 Northern California--beach near the Redwoods

Her name is Jo (yes, as in the Thursday blogger on this very blog), and we've been sort-of together for just over 5 months now (January will make 6 months).

She's been my secret for this long because we were worried about BYU things. But, I'm done with all that school stuff (maybe a story for another post), and I want to tell the world that I'M IN LOVE WITH JO MINER. I really really am. She's wonderful. Magnificent. Marvelous. Amazing.

Here's the whole story from the very beginning.

On July 9th I woke up in my hammock in a grove of trees at Smith and Morehouse campground next to a beautiful reservoir surrounded by beautiful mountains.

Okay okay, I won't go into quite that much detail.

Here's the short version.

We met at a women's outdoor group camp-out on July 9th.

After making a complete ass of myself I finally managed to get her number.

The next weekend she came with me to Goblin Valley for a small camp out and game of night capture the flag.

We hung out a few times a week after that little trip.

We'd watch movies, build forts, hike up the canyon, have picnics near waterfalls, play guitars at the park after a rainstorm.

We went on our first real date on August 15th. It was a double date with my little brother and his girlfriend at the time because that's what he wanted to do for his birthday.

We were both completely in love with each other by this time, but neither of us would tell.

At the end of August/beginning of September Jo and I went on a trip that changed our lives. It cracked our souls, broke our hearts, and opened our eyes. Jo blames it on the trees because we went to visit the Redwoods in northern California, and the trees have a lot of soul power. It was a 10 day adventure through a dozen different forests, stopping to play in a couple lakes and rivers and to eat pizza in delightful artsy towns. We saw a lot of different sides of each other on that trip. I think we both loved everything we saw--even the ornery, worn-out, and the i-haven't-showered-in-ten-days sides.

I nearly drove myself crazy on this trip because the whole time I just wanted to hold her hand. And then a few times I just wanted to kiss her real soft so she could feel all this love emerging from my heart. I didn't, of course. Because I had BYU to stay in compliance with. And it really tore me apart.

On the last day of the trip I couldn't take it any longer. We were driving back towards Utah...probably somewhere in the middle of Nevada when I decided to hold her hand. Just thinking about it now gives me butterflies.

When we got back into Salt Lake she treated me to dinner. The greatest thing is that even in public she wasn't afraid to be seen with me. She even put her arm around me. And I looked something like this:

My hair stuck up like that because it was THAT greasy. Did I already mention that she wasn't embarrassed to be with me in public?? :)

Anyway, after our trip we both had a hard time with being away from each other (because we spent 24 hours a day with each other for almost 10 days). Like I said before, our Redwood adventure changed our lives... Basically there was no more denying that we loved each other.

Because of BYU things we decided to set up some boundaries so I wouldn't get in trouble. I decided that hand holding was okay--I felt like I could hold her hand and still be in accordance with the spirit of the honor code, but I decided that kissing was off limits.

That lasted a month. And at the beginning of October I broke my own rule. I kissed her. But, she didn't kiss me back. I felt rejected. She felt confused. The next day I tried kissing her again. She kissed me back. We've been kissing ever since. Not continuously--that would get exhausting and my lips would probably fall off...

What I'm trying to say is, I'm in love with the most beautiful person ever. And the best part is she loves me back! There's no one else I'd rather spend all my time with. And nobody else who knows just how to play the way I do. We go for walks, swing on the swings at the park, crunch through leaves, hike in the snow, camp in the livingroom, dance in the kitchen, make tree pizzas and peanut-butter playdough figurines.

Okay, (I'm writing this on Friday because I won't have a chance to get online Sunday) so here's the real secret: Jo and I are doing Christmas things with some good friends, and she's staying at their house on Saturday night to be there in the morning on Sunday. She thinks I'm coming up on Sunday morning, but I'm actually going to get there Saturday night. :) teeheehee

If you want to read her posts and see just how wonderful she is then click this or just go to the tabby thing at the top that says Jo.