Six Years Later

It was the summer after my freshman year at college: 2004. I had come home from BYU-Idaho for the summer and got a job at the Target in American Fork. Melanie’s friend, Kylee, also worked at Target and it was great to have someone to talk to that I knew. One day she told me about this boy that worked on the sales floor (I was a cashier) and that he was super cute and that I should go on a date with him.

His name was Bryan.

I hadn’t worked there for very long, so I didn’t know who she was talking about. I told her I would keep my eye out for him and think about it. A little while later, while I was working another Target employee came through my lane. He was buying toys and food for a dog.  We got chatting about his dog, Phoebe. How long he had her, what kind of dog she was and I looked up from the register and noticed his name tag. It was the Bryan that Kylee had told me about. She was right; he was cute.

After that initial meeting, nothing happened.  We closed together a few times and we chatted when we saw each other. During one closing night I remember putting away abandons with him and his two friends, Brett and Shaun in A and B, standing by the greeting card aisle. They were shooting elastic headbands at me. Now that I think about it, I don’t think that Bryan shot any at me, or Brett, it may have just been Shaun.

Another night we closed together I was talking with him in between toys and the seasonal section of Target. As I walked away Janeen, one of our fellow Target employees, came up to me and asked me what I thought of Bryan. I was putting on chap stick and told her that I didn’t know. I had never thought about it.  She told me that she thought that he and I should go on a date. We would make a cute couple, she said.

(It’s funny the things you remember.)

Janeen happened to also be one of the team leaders over the cashiers. So when I worked, I had to do what she asked. One evening, the store was super slow so we were all just kind of standing around talking.  I was talking with Janeen and Bryan came up again. She really thought we should go on a date and she was determined to make sure it happened.  She disappeared for a little while coming back with a bow from the gift wrapping section. It didn’t have a tag and needed one.  She told me that I needed to go over to the aisle and find Bryan and have him get me a number so we could make a tag for it.

I found Bryan and he got me a number for the bow and asked if I wanted to go and get some ice cream at Sonic after work. And we had our first date, one summer evening at Sonic in American Fork.

Now, six years later, we celebrate our four year wedding anniversary. It’s amazing how something as small as a white gift wrapping bow without a tag can change your life forever (with a little help from Janeen, Kylee and a few of our other Target friends…).

The story doesn’t end there, the next two years before we actually got married is full of all kinds of drama and intrigue… but I’ll save that for another day.

Bryan: I love you more today than I ever thought possible.  Thanks for marrying me.