The List

I don't know about all the other church goers out there, but for myself and many of my close friends there was a lesson that we would get EVERY year. It was like it became a tradition for our young women's class. Here is out it went, because of course you need a routine for this. First, we would talk about our week and share any good news that happened, then the teacher would start talking about marriage. The importance of it, and why we do it, how God feels about marriage. It was always a good lesson and I've come to believe many of the things that were taught for  myself.
Then came the crux of the lesson. The teacher would hand out a blank piece of paper and tell you to write down all of the qualities you will look for in your future husband. Most years I would take this assignment VERY seriously and only put down what I thought was most important because I knew how the rest of the lesson would go. They would have us pick the three most important things and ask us if we met a man that had everything on our list except those three things... would we still marry them? Because I had done this so carefully I would always say yes.
However, as I got older I also got tired of having this lesson, and one year I just wrote down anything and everything that I could want in a man. I made a bit of a joke out of it and asked the other girls for suggestions and liked some of them, turned down others... in the end my list was a mix of things I really cared about and the things I truly wanted. It was a fun list and looked something like this:

1. Tall
2. handsome
3. blue eyes
4. smart
5. good sense of humor
6. likes to go dancing
7. graduated from college
8. believes in God
9. Likes Italian food... likes all food
10. plays guitar
11. drives a motorcycle
12. thinks i'm incredibly beautiful
13. can cook
14. return missionary
15. an eagle scout
16. likes camping
17. handy-can fix just about anything
18. likes to read
19. enjoys going to the movies
20. good kisser
21. has style (ie. fashion) 
22. Willing to kill all the spiders
23. good with money-doesn't have a lot of debt.
24. wants kids
25. Has a good job-pays well
26. Likes sports

As you can see this is kind of fun to put together and doing it now from memory was just as fun as it was the first time around. This list though it was kind of a joke, because my "dream guy" because he had more than just the important things. He had everything. It was this unreachable expectation, I never thought that I would find a guy who had it all, but it was nice to think about. 

This was all true until I met Chris.

Chris is him. The perfect man for me. He has everything, the super meaningful ones that I didn't think I could ever live without, as well as, the fun stuff. I didn't realize it at first. I just thought he was a great guy. Then he just kept getting better and better. He just keeps getting better and better. Examples: He calls whenever he says he will call. He randomly calls just to check up on me and see how I am doing. He remembers all of my favorite things and spoils me relentlessly. When I got a knew job, he brought flowers during my first week of work. When I did really good on a final he celebrates with me. He makes me laugh and makes sure I'm comfortable and happy. He likes to joke around and then five minutes later we can be having a deep philosophical discussion on something I've never thought about before. He is patient and willing to teach me new skills. He makes me go outside my comfort zone, try new things, and be around new people. I could go on forever about him. He is my list. My perfect wonderful list. Real. Who stands before me almost every day.

I don't know why I wanted to write about this, but thinking about it I realized that I want people to know not to settle. Don't give up. There is someone out there for everyone. Chris is my list. He is my perfect idea of what I want. Now I know I actually want those things. When I first met Chris I wasn't sure if I wanted to be his friend because he was so different from everyone I know. What happens is I thought I knew what I wanted. I thought I knew who I needed to be around. However, I've learned and grown so much. I've never felt more loved. He is amazing, and on the surface, I never would have guessed just how much I would need him in my life.