I'm Happy For You.

When I was in 5th grade I competed in the Foothills Elementary spelling bee. My dad and I studied for hours so I could compete. I memorized hundreds of words. I remember the morning of the spelling bee my dad wrote me a note on the front of an old T-Mobile bill envelope on the counter. He wished me luck and told me that he loved me. He also purposely spelled every word wrong closing with, “You got your spelling skills from your Mother”.

My mom and grandma came to watch the spelling bee. After the first few rounds I wasn’t so nervous. I knew all the words and I was doing really well. Soon we were down to the final three. It was close, the words got tough, but I finished the spelling bee in third place. I remember being pretty sad. I turned to the girl in my class who beat me and I said, “Congratulations, I’m happy for you”. To be honest, at the time I wasn’t. I wanted to win the spelling bee. I had worked really hard. It took my little 5th grade heart a few hugs from my mom and a few thoughts about how hard the other girl had worked before I actually meant it. I’m happy for you.

An eternal marriage is the most extraordinary thing I have ever been a part of. I say, "I'm happy for you" a lot. And I mean it. Every success of Jake’s feels like a success for me. Every good thing that happens to him feels like something good has happened to me. His success feels more important to me than mine. 

I gave Jake a watch on our wedding day. It's a beautiful watch with a rose gold and black face, and a brown leather band. I set it to start ticking December 10, 2016 at 10:40 am. The very time we were sealed together in the St. George LDS Temple. It's been ticking through success after success since that day. Our wedding day was full of people saying, "We're so happy for you". And they were.

Jake will continue to do incredible things. I'll get to see them all. In fact, I think he'll show me first. One beautiful aspect of marriage? That guy who does the incredible things? He's my greatest success. I’m happy for you, Jake.