Meeting Shawn & First Date (Part 1)

With our twenty-three year anniversary this month, I have been going through old notes, pictures and reminiscing about how Shawn and I met.  I am so lucky to have married him and what an incredible 23 years it has been.  Full of incredible joy, fun, adventure and growth.  In honor of the anniversary I have decided to write down MY version of how we met.  (Since Shawn tells it otherwise, I thought I should at least try and set the record straight.)

Returning to BYU (Provo) in January of 1989, I moved into a condo off of 900 East.  My cousin Laura was living there, and two other girls, Lisa and Toni.  I traveled and moved in over the weekend, driving my Honda Accord from Colorado with a family friend, Mark Wright.

I had taken the fall semester off to work and help my parents with the Subway stores.  I was anxious to get back to studying and make some progress towards graduation.  I had determined in the time off from college, that although wonderful, I didn't want to live forever in my parents home.  I also didn't want to manage fast food restaurants for the rest of my life.  My plan was to spend the semester determining which of the two major options I would commit to: Nursing or Advertising.

My Mom and Dad had worried a little bit about me.  From my perspective now, I can see why.  I had always been someone who received joy by making others happy.  Often, I had chosen things based on what would bring the most happiness to those around me.  Most often this had made me happy as well--seeing the happiness in others-- but sometimes my inability to make people around me happy was frustrating.  In this regard, I was looking forward to an opportunity to make my own choices based on what I wanted--what made me happy--and to begin again.

On my first Saturday back in Provo, as I was moving in my things in, a guy appeared at the table in the dining room.  I was wearing headphones and listening to my Walkman, so when I realized he was there I was a little surprised. He had his books spread out on the table and was studying by himself.

Upon ascending to my room, I found one of my roommates, Toni, and asked about the guy downstairs.  Toni came down with me and introduced us.  "Jenny, this is Shawn Farris.  He comes over to use our table because it is quiet here.  He kinda uses it as his own personal study area."  I smiled and said hello.

I'll be honest, this kinda bugged me.
Why didn't this guy use his own apartment?  Or the library?  I put my headphones back on and went about moving my things in.  I figured that I could quiz my roommate later about why she let this guy have access to our apartment.  Later that day my new roommate pulled me aside and said "Shawn, the guy you met earlier today, is really nice and drives a beautiful car.  His family has a lot of money.  You should go on a date with him"

Huh.  Really?  This is the lead-in to how great a guy was?  I could see that these things were important to Toni--hence the reason she shared them with me.  However having money was not something that made a guy great in my mind.  It said nothing to me about the man he was, nor what he valued or cared about.  In fact, when she said it that way it was a HUGE turn off for me. Toni did a great disservice to Shawn in this regard.  It made me slightly defensive and wary.

The next day was the first day of classes and I came home to find Shawn studying in my dining room, again.  This time however, there was no one else home.  What was my roommate thinking letting this guy have free reign in our apartment?  I decided to figure out what was up with this guy before I reported it.  I grabbed something to eat and sat down at the table.  After talking with him for a few minutes I determined that, although he was --how can I put this nicely-- "self assured", he seemed okay.

Shawn was very easy to talk to, and I found myself interested in the places he had been, and the things he had to say.  He had a unique sense of humor--intelligent, witty and quick--but not derogatory.  He seemed to know how to ask for more information about me and what to say in response.  Which was very odd because usually guys misread me at first meeting.  Shawn however, seemed to follow my train of thought easily and was very good at asking questions that made me think and consider. It sounds silly, but it is true.  He kinda knew me, without knowing me.  In some ways this was disconcerting, but it was such a familiar, fun and easy conversation.

After talking for more than an hour, I realized the time, and the oddity of the situation.  As I began to get up, Shawn told me he could predict our future.  I laughed out loud and thought this guy has no idea what he is getting himself into. I am not an ordinary girl.

"Sure" I said "Write it down and we will seal it and open it in a month."   To my dismay, he wrote it down in Spanish so that I couldn't read it as he wrote.  We both signed it to signify it was the original document and sealed it with tape.

(To be Continued)
To read Part Two click these words