The Greatest Love Story of All Time.....

It all started long before Jen and I actually were introduced to each other. Craig was dating lots of girls and was not finding the Holy Grail. Jen, well she is hot and always had to beat the guys off with a stick, but she too was not finding the one. They both heard of this relationship genius Neil Clark Warren.
Mr Warren took the time to get to know us individually. He asked me so many questions. I think it took me about 4 hours to complete his questionnaire. I am glad that I took the time because he nailed me and my preferences. He then introduced me to Jen on January 3rd, 2005.
Meanwhile, Neil was getting to know Jen. He asked her all about herself, what she likes and dislikes, about her ambitions and desires, about what frustrates her and makes her happy, what she loves to do and what she detests doing. He then wrote this great biography about Jen and sent it to me .
After reading about Jen, I decided that I would like to email her. We emailed for a few long weeks. We just really clicked. I asked her questions about her that Mr. Warren left out of Jen's biography. I wanted to know if she was to have dinner with any historical person, who would she have it with and why? She told me somebody profound that she nor I can remember right now. That blasted memory loss that accompanies age. To make a long story short (also I can't remember all the conversations), we really clicked on the email. I decided that I wanted to ask if we could chat on the phone. She agreed. That night we talked for the first time on the phone. We became great friends that night as we laughed at each others jokes and bonded as we shared about our backgrounds. We talked for three or four hours.
Each night for the next two weeks we talked for hours on the phone. We really bonded as we chatted.
During this same time I was interviewing to start a career in Pharmaceutical Sales. I accepted a position with Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals and started my home study training. After the home study I would fly to Cincinnati for training for 15 days. After training I would move from Hartford to Boston and start working and not have any time off for about six months or more. I was going to be really busy and was really getting excited about my career. I soon realized that if I did not meet Jen in person prior to training in Cincinnati, I probably would not be able to until late in the summer. I really enjoyed talking to her. I was worried that if I waited until then I was going to die, I liked Jen a lot. She was really cool.
After speaking on the phone for only 3 weeks, I asked her if it would be OK if I flew out to Seattle to meet her. She was so surprised. She was not expecting it at all. She was excited and invited me to come out.
Now it is time to back up to the first time Jen was introduced to me so you can get caught up from her point of view. Dr. Warren sent her my biography. The first thing she noticed was that I was from Hartford, Connecticut. She was from Olympia, Washington. She was looking for a honorable priesthood holder in the LDS Church and there should be ones that Dr. Warren should be able to introduce her to closer than Hartford. She was concerned that if things were to work out with me then she would most likely have to sell her house, leave her family and move to Connecticut. She had never been to there and did not know anyone form there. She then got my first email. Her curiosity was peaked. She read my email and then replied. She was expecting not much. As we began to email her romantic fantasies began to grow. She really began to like me, for some crazy reason. There was a major problem. Olympia was 3000 miles from Hartford. To solve this problem she decided to turn to the Lord in prayer. As she prayed for guidance she felt a prompting tell her that her answer was in the scriptures. She opened her Old Testament. Turned to the Book of Ruth and began to read. She felt prompted to read here. She knew her answer would be found in this chapter. In verse 16 of the first chapter it reads: And Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Her answer was to not worry. If she followed the Lord, she would never be alone. She could leave her family and she would not be alone. What faith she had. She knew from this scripture and the comforting feeling of the Holy Ghost, that if she was to fall in love with me and we were to be married, she would be OK. She would be in the Lord's hands. She could leave her family and move 3000 miles away. She decided that if I was to ask her she would say yes. She did not tell me this until.....
We talked about me visiting her on Sunday evening and on Thursday of that same week I flew out to meet her. If I did not do it that week, my chances would be limited as I got closer to my training. I needed to go that week or wait several months.
Flying out there, one would think I would be nervous. But, for some reason I was not nervous. I really liked her. I was excited. I had never gotten to know someone without meeting them first. This was new to me.
When I landed in Seattle and waited in the baggage claim I did get a little nervous. There was no Jen. She was not there. I sat in a wide open space and waited. My wait was not long. I recognized her from her pictures. She was with her best friend Amy and her husband Ben. It was smart that she not come alone since I could have been a cereal killer (I just love Grape Nuts cereal). She was beautiful. Good thing for me, she thought I looked better in person than in my pictures. There was hope for me. We went and got some dinner at Claim Jumper. As we the entered the restaurant, I placed my hand on the small of Jen's back as I held the door open for her. We shared dinner and great conversation with Ben and Amy. She later told me that shivers went down her spine when I touched her back and it had been years since someone created that feeling for her. I drove myself to my hotel.
The next afternoon, I met Jen at work with flowers. I spent the day at the Seattle Temple while she was at work, and decided to give her flowers when I picked her up. We drove around Olympia as Jen took me to her favorite places. She showed me beautiful vistas of the Puget Sound and to a nice area called Percival Landing. She and I walked along the water hand in hand. From time to time we would hug and then standing next to the water we shared our first kiss. It was wonderful. Later that day we went to a "paint your own pottery" store and we painted a vase together. It was a lot of fun. Then we went back to her place and cooked dinner together. We worked so well and made a great dinner together. After dinner she and I talked for another couple of hours and then I returned to my hotel.
I had a problem. I really liked her. She was really pretty. I had a good time with her that day. But, I just was not feeling the chemistry. I was really worried and as the day continued my stress level grew. I went back to my hotel and had to think things out. I was glad that I had come out to visit her, but I was worried that she and I would not have that click that could lead to something more than friendship. I decided that I was going to talk to her about it and break up with her the next day. This decision also did not seem right, but it was all that I could come up with as a solution. I decided to turn to the Lord and ask if my decision was right. I need to know if I should break up with her. I did not get my answer right away. I did, however, feel my stress leave. I went to sleep with out an answer. The next morning I prayed again. As I prayed, a strong feeling came over me. I knew it was the Lord. I felt that I was being way to hard on myself and that I needed to give her a second chance. I decided to listen to the Spirit.
Good thing that I did, as soon as I stopped stressing about us we really clicked. Jen met me at my hotel and we went to downtown Seattle. I was excited to go to Pikes Place Fish Market. I had read about it in my favorite business book, Fish. We walked along the fish market and other stores and did a little window shopping. It was really fun. We joked a lot and got to really know each other. We then went to the Crab Pot for some steamed seafood concoction. It was great. They served us a steaming pot of crab, fish, scallops, corn, and sausage and then dumped the pot onto the table. We then picked what we wanted and then throw the scraps back into the pot. We had so much fun. It was so messy. After dinner we met up with Jen's brother and wife and went to see The Work and the Glory movie. It was so good. After the movie we went back to my hotel and Jen went home. As soon as I walked into my room I kneeled down and thanked the Lord for stopping me from making a big mistake. I really liked Jen and the chemistry was there. My stress was interfering the way.
The next day we went to her ward where we met her bishop. After church we went back to her house and then to her uncle Brent's house for Family Home Evening. I had to meet the entire family. There was an army to meet there. It was fun. She has a great family. During dinner, Grandpa Kohler was enticed to tell his "cat story", which only he can give justice. It is really funny. After a brief lesson, we went to see her Grandmother at a rehab center where she was recuperating from knee surgery. She was so sweet. Upon leaving, she told Jen that I was a keeper. Pheww, I pulled the wool over her eyes. It was a lot of fun to get to know her mother and family.
That night, Jen let the cat out of the bag. We were talking and we knew that I was going to be leaving the next morning and would not see her before I left. She told me about her experience reading from the Book of Ruth. She told me that she had been apprehensive about communicating with me at the very beginning because it would mean that she would have to change her life completely. She then told me......She had already gotten her answer......If I was to ask her to marry me, she would leave her life behind and move to Boston and marry me!!!!!! I did not know what to say. We had not even dropped the "L" word...You know the love word. She was sort of proposing to me.
As I drove home I was happy, but a little freaked out. The next day on the plane home, I really began to miss her. I realized how much faith and guts it took for her to tell me her decision. As I thought about it, I became amazed by it. She had guts. She was a strong woman. She was beautiful. She was willing to leave everything behind. She was amazing. I decided that I needed to get my answer about us.
Over the next month or so, I prayed about us. Each time I prayed, I felt a peaceful feeling, but I was looking for a lightening bolt answer and I was not getting it. I continued to pray. I worried a little that I was not going to get an answer. Then I was sitting in my Young Single Adult Institute lesson at church and the lesson was taught by some of my friends. All three of them were sharing how they decided to go on an LDS mission. They individually testified in their testimonies that they had not been struck by lightening when they prayed about a mission. They did feel a calm peaceful feeling. They recognized that that was their answer and knew it was right to go on a mission. As they all shared this, I realized that I had been feeling the same everytime I prayed about Jen. I realized I had been getting my answer all along. I felt the Spirit really strong tell me that Jen and I would be happy together. I knew I was in love with her. Now, I knew that the Lord thought it was good too. I went home and called Jen and told her. She was so happy. She was secretly already planning our wedding. She knew I would get my answer. She was right.
Over the next month, we courted over the phone and planned a wedding. I spent the month sleeping on my sister's floor in Boston, started my new career in pharmaceutical sales, and looked for a condo. I told my realtor that I wanted to see 20 places and narrow the list down to 3 for when Jen would come out to visit Boston for the first time in 3 weeks.
In March, Jen came to visit me in Boston. She knew I was going to propose to her over the weekend, but not when. On Friday, we went and looked at the 3 condos I had picked out. I did not tell her which one was my first choice. She told me her first choice and it too was mine. See, Dr. Warren knew we were compatible....it was one of the 27 levels of compatibility....picking the right condo to live in. We then made an offer on the condo and my realtor gave us some nearly courtside seats to see the Boston Celtics play the Detroit Pistons. I was planning to propose to Jen that night, but now we had tickets, it would've been rude to turn them down. It started to snow as we left the realtor's office and we went up to Topsfield, Ma. I told Jen I wanted to take her to one of my favorite childhood places. We went to the house my Grandparents lived in. The house had been in the family since my great-great-grandfather built it in the 1860s. It is a beautiful house set on a hill in Topsfield. I had made arrangements to visit the house and give Jen a tour so that she could see where we visited many times and celebrated many wonderful holidays. As I showed her around the house, I shared with her stories from my childhood. It was really romantic and fun. Our last stop on the tour was the living room. In the living room was a roaring fire in a fireplace. I rarely visited Grandma and Grandpa when there was not a fire in the fireplace. We stood facing each other in front of the fire. I looked into her eyes and told her that in this very place, 68 years ago, Grandpa and Grandma Campbell were married. They started their loving marriage in the very spot that we were standing. My Grandparents were very much in love all their life. They were an inspiration to me on what a loving marriage was all about. I told her how much they loved each other. Then I told her that I would like to start our family from this spot and got on one knee and asked her to marry me. I presented to her a ring that I had made that contained Grandma Campbell's diamond in it. I hoped that starting our life in a similar way as my Grandparents that their example of a marriage full of love would transfer over to ours. She cried and hugged me with joy. She was so excited and told me it was so romantic. After I proposed to her, we went to my favorite restaurant, Periwinkles in Essex. I had made arrangements with the owner of the restaurant to set a table with a red rose on it for us near the window overlooking the water. When we arrived, the table was all set and romantic and the staff treated us like royalty. They were so excited for us. Dinner was so romantic. Live piano music played in the background as the snow fell outside the window as we ate our dinner. It was beautiful. Following dinner, we went to the Celtics game. Jen got her first taste of Boston sports fans. It is a religion to be a sportsfan in Boston. We had great seats. We sat next to a young guy that was drinking a fair amount of beer. He was cheering away and having a great time. When the Celtics took the game into double overtime, he grabbed Jen and gave her a big bear hug as he jumped for joy. The Celtics were not supposed to win or even be close. Jen was so surprised. She was a little scared. I knew he would not hurt Jen and so I laughed as she was manhandled by a drunk Boston sports fan. She had never seen fans get into their sports so much. It was fun. The Celtics did end up winning. It capped a wonderful day that made our relationship official. I was so grateful for Jen.
We spent the rest of the weekend going out to Grandma Topping's house in the Hamptons in Long Island, NY. It was time for Jen to meet my family. Out there we took our engagement photos while walking on the beach, sitting on a pier, walking by a windmill and various other Hampton locales. My family loved Jen. They thought she was great and they knew she made me happy. I introduced her to my Uncle Price and his girlfriend (now wife) Hollis. Price was not very supportive of most of my previous relationships. He was very open about it. I prepped Jen and told her that he might say somethings. He loved her. He knew right away that we were right for each other and told us so many times. Now lets go down the checklist of people who approved of our relationship: God, her family, Bobby the realtor, my family, and now Price. We were on a good role. Jen flew back home on Monday. I missed her as soon as she left. She is amazing.
The next month we planned our wedding and grew excited about getting married.
On May4th I flew to Seattle and joined my best friend Troy, my brother Curtis, Jen's brother Jeff and her dad, Jerry and had a bachelor party. It was so much fun. We went to the Cheesecake Factory. I had not seen Troy since college and we laughed so much. It was awesome. The food was not that good. Troy highlighted the night by proclaiming loudly in a great sigh that his food was "just OK." We laughed so hard. Curtis and I jumped into Troy's car to go to my hotel and we had to top of the bachelor party night by being pulled over by one of Washington's finest. You will never guess for what. No it was not for drinking (we are Mormons), it was because Troy cut across 2 lanes on the freeway with out his blinker on and the best part was that we were the only car on the highway. It was not like he cut anyone off or anything. Here in Massachusetts, the police will pull you over if you are going the speed limit out of concern for our wellbeing....it is too slow. (Side story: my old roommate and I a few years ago were driving from Hartford to Boston and he is the letter of the law kind of guy. He was driving exactly 65 in the lane of the MassPike. Next thing we know a state trooper pulls us over. He makes Marshall answer questions and say the alphabet backwards....he was convinced we were drunk. No one drives the speed limit, especially 2 young single guys. Marshall had never had alcohol before.)
On Thursday, May 5th, 2005 (yes Cinco de Mayo and o5/05/2005) Jen and I met in the Seattle Temple to be sealed together for Time and All Eternity. The sealer had some amazing words of advice that Troy's wife Alysia was so kind to write down. He spoke of the spiritual significance of being married in the temple and the other ordinances in the temple. He counseled us to always be worthy to enter the temple and to teach our children of the special blessings that come forth from the temple. Then he sealed us for Time and All Eternity. Jen and I were married. I felt so in love with Jen. I was so priveledged and felt honored to be there with her. She was so beautiful and I love her so much. It was great to have my brother Curtis and Jen's brother witness our sealing. It was great to have Troy and his wife, and my best friend from high school Shelly Wolf there.
After the sealing we took a million photos and then went to the Columbia Tower to have lunch with her family high above the Seattle skyline. Then Jen and I went to the Hotel Monaco.

That is it folks. I will let Jen tell the story about our wedding reception the next day and about our honeymoon.

Our story is the greatest story. It was quick, but amazing. I cherished every minute of it and feel tremendously blessed. Jen is beautiful. I love her so much. She is my best friend and I look forward to having a family with her and growing old with her.

Honeymoon: Eating our own catch of the day. This restaurant cooked up our own Mahi Mahi and it was so good.  

Here is one of the Mahi Mahi Tuna (on left) that we caught and my Tuna that I caught on right.

Honeymoon: One Hot Babe!!! 

Honeymoon: This is one of the Mexican hole-in-the-wall restaurants that was right on the water and the seafood and Mexican food was amazing. 

Christmas 2005 update

Dear Friends and Family, Merry Christmas. This is so exciting...it is our first Christmas as our new family. We were married on May 5, 2005 in the Seattle Temple for the LDS Church. We then celebrated our union with many of Jen's family, friends and Starbucks customers at a beautiful reception at the Olympia Country Club overlooking the Pugent Sound. Everything was so amazing. Then it was off to Puerta Vallerta, Mexico for our Honeymoon. Jen had a timeshare that we stayed in and I had frequent flier miles to fly from Seattle to Puerta Vallerta to Boston first class. I, being the guy, like to brag that we had an incredibly amazing honeymoon for 9 days for less than $500 total. It was awesome. I really like good Mexican food and so I was not really interested in eating in many of the tourist trap restaurants, so we found these amazing hole-in-the-wall family owned restaurants that was so great. We would eat the freshest seafood and Mexican dishes often overlooking the water and be the only customers there. One of the highlights was our deep sea fishing expedition. We chartered a boat from Master Baiters and went out about 18 miles from the bay and had a great time. There was only one other couple on the boat (a southern preacher who kept referring to his congregation as his business???). Jen caught the longest Mahi Mahi Tuna for the day. We did not have a tape measure with us, but suffice it to say .... as they would say in Maine .... "that are a big'on". I caught the heaviest yellow fin tuna at about 25 pounds. The preacher caught a dolphin. It was fine and did not get hurt. Speaking of dolphins...I have seen dolphins swimming in the ocean many times. When I would see them they were usually in small groups. The charter captain would find the tuna by following the dolphin. When I say following the dolphins, we could see them swimming 2-3 miles away. They were swimming in packs of several hundred. It was amazing. It was so much fun. After our honeymoon, we flew directly to Boston and Jen officially made her move to Boston. While we were on our honeymoon, my former roommate, Mike Clark, came out to the wedding and drove Jen's things across country in a Budget Truck. He is an awesome guy and we really appreciate his help. He made the entire move possible. When he got to Boston, he even called the Elders Quorum president in our new LDS Church Ward and got some help unloading the truck so that everything was inside our condo by the time we got home from the honeymoon. He is awesome. Thanks Mike. Since the honeymoon life has pretty much returned to normal for me, but Jen had to make the adjustment of living 3000 miles away from family. Jen did so very well. She is such an amazing woman and I love her so much. She does get homesick from time to time, but for the most part has been focused on finding new things to like about the East Coast. She does believe that the people here are in too big a rush and way too over caffeinated. Can you believe that....a Seattle girl calling us in the East over caffeinated. She does have a point. In Olympia she got to know her customers. They were always friendly and enjoyed the "Starbucks Experience". Here we are used to getting our drinks NOW and we do not care about the experience so much. We have been fine getting drinks from Dunkin Donuts from people who can't speak any English. In fact a talk radio station has an ongoing bit about Dunkin Donuts employees and how you can never understand a word they say to you. It is always funny. As Starbucks expands in the East, people begin to really appreciate the experience and slowly but surely Jen has begun to get to know her customers and her life is getting back to normal. She really is a trooper. Her highlight is opening a store in our town. You can read all about that in her other post. When we first moved here, there were no store manager openings and so she had to take a temporary demotion to assistant manager and commute an average of 45 minutes each way. We were really praying that the Lord would help the people in our area become even more caffeinated and hooked on coffee and that Starbucks would open a store closer to our home for her. About 3 months after starting as an assistant manager, her boss called and told her she was going to open a store in our town. It was such an answer to prayer. I really enjoy pharmaceutical sales. I have a huge territory. I cover all of New England except for Connecticut and most of Vermont. I visit 70 OB-GYNs and 20 Ear Nose Throat / Oral Surgeons every two weeks. I sell the best prenatal vitamin on the market (DUET DHA) and I do not say it because I am biased. When I ask my doctors "If you could create your dream prenatal that you would feel comfortable writing for all your patients, what would it have in it?" Almost all the time they say that tolerability, folic acid, iron and omega 3s and cost. Fortunately, Duet DHA would meet all of these hopes and dreams. They usually are not aware that it does and so my job is to remind them of how great Duet DHA really is. Generally they begin writing it as soon as I stop by, but may forget after awhile and so I have to go by every 2 weeks to remind them. I also have a liquid pain killer that I promote to the ENTs and Oral Surgeons. It is similar to Vicodin, but in a liquid form. This is helpful for patients with post surgical pain. I was just recognized nationally for being one of 6 sales reps out of all our reps nationwide that actually met the goal to visit every single doctor on schedule. This should help me achieve my numbers. In late July, we had an addition to our family. No not a baby....how quick do you think we are. Even though Jen is the most amazing woman ever, she has not found a way to decrease the gestational period from 40 weeks. No, Jen got her pet pug back from her Dad in Seattle. He was kind enough to watch Sophie while Jen and I went on our Honeymoon, but she got really sick and could not fly across country when we got back. She needed to wait to get better. Finally in July, she was able to join us on the East Coast. Thank you Jerry and Frida for caring for Sophie. Thank you for reading all our rambling. Jen and I love being married and we look forward to hearing from all of you. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It's crazy working at the mall! I have been doing the Starbucks thing for almost 7 years, but a mall brings its own set of challenges. I love my new store and my partners. It is really different being in a market where we are the ONLY STARBUCKS! I am used to running one of the 10 in town. Our nearest Company owned store is 2o minutes+ away. Each day I get to explain to people what the difference is between a mocha, a cappuccino and a latte. (And that a mochalatte is not a drink!) Most people who come to the store are first time Starbucks customers! What a change from Olympia where Starbucks rules the coffee market! My new store opened on November 18th, and has been busy ever since! We are on the first floor next to Godiva chocolate, and they opened a Maggie Moo's marble top ice cream kiosk right outside of our doors! Talk about temptation! I am looking forward to taking a break from all of the hustle and bustle when we fly home to Seattle for Christmas. This year will be the first Christmas eve in 7 years that I haven't worked! We are going to get together and sing carols as a family and have a good time. Jen

The happiest day of our lives...outside the Seattle Temple.