Part Two: Enter Alex

Continuing with the back story, Alex and I met in 5th grade. He came with his friend Joey to my church for Pioneer Clubs. I was the one girl in a class of 13 boys, and less than affectionately dubbed "the endangered species." I hated that class. I was a shy kid, and while I appreciated my fair share of attention, all eyes on me was my worst nightmare. I was tormented and teased constantly by these boys. The adults told me that they all just had crushes on me, but I knew they were just trying to make me feel better about the miserable truth that no one could change. It turns out, looking at old photos, I was a pretty cute kid, and they may have been right. I distinctly remember Alex from those days, because he did not pay much attention to me, and the attention he did give me was friendly. Somehow, Alex's parents succeeded in what so many other parents could never do. They raised boys who were nice to girls. Alex had no sisters, but had younger girl cousins. Playing with girls was considered a privilege, for which you had to behave yourself.

Jumping ahead, my family moved on from that church, and Alex continued attending occasionally with his friend. In 7th grade, he gave his life to Christ and became more passionate about God than anyone I had met my age. At that same time, I began attending the youth group of my former church with my-now-sister-in-law Natalie. We made good friends with Alex and his brother Aaron, never dreaming we would marry them.

I distinctly remember the first time I felt any attraction for Alex. He had fairy wings on his back, and the youth pastor's toddler on his shoulders, tearing around the church yelling, "We're on fire!!! We're on fire!!!" The little boy was laughing as only a toddler can. All the other jr. high boys were insecurely trying to be cool. Alex was just fun.

Shortly after that, Alex developed a crush on me. He was very open and enthusiastic about his feelings for me... It was so embarrassing. I liked someone else, someone not half as nice as Alex. I remember pouring my heart out to my mom like the immature teenager I was, saying how I felt so bad that I didn't like him, because he was so nice. After a few weeks of this, she finally lost patience, and said, "Well then why don't you like him? Nice wears well over time!" Which was funny, considering I was supposedly not allowed to date anyway. Shortly after that, I went with him to his 8th grade graduation dance, and my parents stopped saying I was not allowed to date. I remember my mom saying something to the effect of, "They hang out together at church, he loves her and she loves him. We can put restrictions on what name we give it, but if it looks like a duck and quacks, you might as well call it a duck."

Anyway, long story short, Alex became the most incredible friend I ever had. And after he grew a foot and lost the round face, round glasses and little boy haircut, every girl I knew wished they could be with him. He and I never broke up. We dated through high school. Then we went to college together for photography, but realized that growing our own business into something profitable would take longer than we wanted to wait to get married. So, Alex flipped through the Owens class catalogue, came to the welding page, said, "Fire... Metal... Sounds cool!" And that begins this story...