A SURPRISE AT WORK

sorry for the poor quality iphone photos. but i really love matt.

WHY LAURA LIKES MATT

I think it’s always a little trite when people ask me what it is that I like about Matt. If I could say one word about him, just identify one quality that makes me love him, wouldn’t that mean that our relationship is very one-dimensional? 

My next instinct is to then respond that I like everything about Matt. But again, that isn’t  giving the asker any real information. It’s a cop-out.

So what I usually end up saying is this.

From early on, I had a good feeling about Matt. I felt very interested and drawn to him, but if you had asked me why, I would have had no answer except that I had a good feeling. Somehow I just knew he was special, unique, and good for me. 

After only a few conversations, I was able to identify what it was I liked about Matt. To me, Matt is this perfect balance of so many things. I am honestly in awe of him every day.  He is so hard working, logical, and intelligent (you don’t just get into phD programs for Chemical Engineering by looking cute). But at the same time, he is one of the goofiest, kindest, most loving people I’ve ever known. He genuinely cares about others, and you can feel it- it’s tangible. He is always trying to be his best self; no matter what situation he’s in. He loves the art of Cezanne, but also taught himself Calculus- he just simply is everything; this balance of it all that I think is so difficult to achieve. Ever since the beginning of our relationship, I’ve found this dichotomy of interests and personality in him just absolutely fascinating. I love it.

Matt makes me want to be better, try harder, and love more. He accepts me at my worst, and encourages me to be my best.  I had a good feeling about him from the beginning, and while time has passed since then, that feeling still remains.

WHY MATT LIKES LAURA

Ever since I’ve liked Laura, I have been often asked what about Laura I like so much. I dread this question because there is no clear simple response. The answer probably lies in a mélange of the conscious and subconscious - common interests, shared experiences, hormones, intuition and whatever – that I don’t even am aware of. Thus, any answer is doomed to be trite and impotent. After much thought, I have decided to address this troublesome question with a long and unrelated story.

Sometime in mid-February, everybody around us was worried about a girl named 'Coriander'. Coriander usually livened up the neighbourhood with her eclectic sassyness, but at this time she had stopped coming to social events or church, and ostracised herself from everyone else. She stopped answering her phone and door. Nobody knew why. It was unfamiliar and troubling to us all.

One evening, Laura and I decided to visit Coriander. I remember the road was grim and miserably frosted still.  At that time, our relationship was in ambiguous limbo – we were spending a lot of time together but hadn’t officially called it dating yet – so I don’t remember if we had held hands.

When Coriander opened the door, the tension was immediately tangible. Despite this, Coriander let us in when we asked if we could come in. We started chatting on the couch but the uneasiness did not abate. Coriander was agitated and I didn't know how to react. I tried some goofy humor but it exacerbated the anxiety in the room. I thought everything was going south.

It was then that Laura came into the conversation. She expressed empathy and lent a listening ear. As I have since come to know, Laura’s listening –the attentiveness and sincerity - often soothes and calms. Composed and reflective, she rarely commands the crowd but often meets the need of an individual – a primal need to be understood. She considers and contemplates upon the person - she sees the lone tree in the forest. Such feat requires one to find and hold on to a genuine, non-trivial common ground between two psyches – some impressive emotional gymnastics. Laura often musters simple and sincere empathy from little common ground. The tension soon melted, and Coriander openly talked to us for a long time, until we had to finally excuse ourselves.

I reckon Laura doesn't fully appreciate her own gift, not only because she can be a harsh self-critic, but also simple because it is simply who she is (koala bears don’t know what it is like to be not cute. Laura was probably never emotionally deaf). I remember noticing it right away though, and appreciated deeply. It was one of the first moments when my feelings for her three-dimensionalized. 

THE PRODUCT OF A RAINY WALK

We're official! 

PICTURES IN THE FOREST

TOP TEN MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Matt and Laura have been dating for 3 months. What are the top 10 memorable moments so far?

According to Matt:
In chronological order 

1. First date: When our paths unexpectedly crossed - when the first domino piece awkwardly fell, and we had no idea what was to follow.

2. Skyfall: disappointments sting. I decide to go watch a movie I'm not in the mood for, which is longer than the wall of China, only because Laura is going, and I don't get to even see her.

3. Second date: clever invitation -> can't find minigolf place -> we go bowling instead, but laura sits on a puddle -> dinner in a trolley

4. A random school day evening: just stopped by coming from campus - Laura was making freestyle tika masala, and invited me to join. Bought a lot of Laura stock that evening.

5. Indian restaurants: I treated Laura to Bombay House for Valentines Day. Laura treated me to Banana Leaf for getting her a copy of War & Peace.

6. My birthday: Laura treated me to Black Sheep, and also made me really, really good Tika masala. She is the best.

7. General Conference: Where we hoped to be featured in the Ensign as an interracial couple, were excited to hear Elder Scott speak, and ate Nepalese food in the Himalayan Kitchen afterwards.

8. Sweet potatos by the lake: watch the sun go down by Utah Lake eating Guru's sweet potato fries - but we ate too much.

9. Saturday thrift: Went on a thrifting spree with Laura. It is when thrifting when you get to witness Laura in her natural habitat, full of instinct

10. Clean/move date: We cleaned Chelsea #5 all night, and moved her stuff to the Labyrinthe house in the morning. I don't know why, but I had a lot of fun.

According to Laura:

10.  General conference weekend. We watched all of the sessions together, and went up to Salt Lake for the Saturday afternoon session. My favorite apostle is Richard G. Scott, and I was so excited that he spoke while we were in the conference center. I remember feeling like a real couple there; and realized that we could be married someday, and could always watching conference together. After the Priesthood session we went out to Himalayan Kitchen and walked around Salt Lake at night, and it was just an awesome day. 

9.      Sitting at the lake eating sweet potato fries. One of my favorite dates was when we got sweet potato fries to go at Guru’s, and just sat at Utah Lake together. It was after the stress of finals and moving, and it was so good to relax with Matt; so simple but so fun. I loved just laying in the grass, looking at the mountains and water, and talking. I realized then that I really love doing anything with him.

8.     Matt's birthday. I wanted to make Matt's birthday special and fun. We went out to Black Sheep with a bunch of our friends the day before, and on the actual day I made him Chicken Tikka Masala. I also got several silly little gifts at the dollar tree, and a dinosaur balloon. We didn’t do much but just spend time together cooking, eating, watching Amelie, and cuddling. I remember how important it was to me that he felt appreciated and special, and realized how much I cared about him.

7. Our snowshoe date. Our first date was a double date snowshoeing in Rock Canyon Park. I was so nervous about what to wear, because I wanted to look cute, which seemed absolutely impossible while snowshoeing. With snowshoeing, it is obviously cold out so you need to dress warmly, but also it's very aerobic so you get warm quickly. I was nervous about the date, but I  really enjoyed talking to him. I just felt that I wanted to get to know him better. For some reason, Matt made me feel good and happy, and I wanted to keep feeling that.

6.      Our second date. Our second date sparked from Matt and his roommate Lee re-creating my profile picture. They dressed up and posed like my friend and I, and photo shopped them in the same background. The date got changed, but we ended up bowling and going out to eat. At the bowling alley I accidentally sat in a puddle of water; I was slightly horrified but I tried to play it cool. After the date, I was worried that he wasn't into me. I post-date texted him (which I hardly ever do) and  he didn’t use as many emoticons and exclamation marks as usual, so I thought he was letting me down easy. But, I was wrong, and he did want to spend more time with me I came to find out.

  5.      Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day, I woke up in my top bunk as usual. I had the thought run through my mind, “If I was to get a gift today, I’d want to get it in the morning when I woke up. That would be so exciting.” I rubbed my eyes and saw some vintage books on my desk with a rose on it. I asked Eden where they came from, and she said they were left outside our apartment late last night when she came home. I opened up the books and there was a cut out inside with chocolates. In the book he highlighted  a quote about friends making life worth living, and added in a quote from my favorite movie, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” with an invitation to Bombay House for that evening. I was so surprised, and realized that he was a very thoughtful, caring person.

4. After the Women in Psychology Conference. One Friday I spent the day up in Salt Lake at a conference. Matt stopped by before I went up to wish me luck, and I remember feeling like I just wanted to stay home and spend the day with him. While there, I realized that I couldn’t wait to get home and make pizza and watch a foreign film like we planned. I got stuck in traffic driving back to Provo, and it was so frustrating because I just wanted so badly to get home and spend time with him. It was a turning point for me, because it made me realize just how much I liked spending time with him, and how happy he made me.

3.      The time he said he more than liked me. One night we were cuddling on the tan, sunken couch in Chelsea 5 after a long day as usual. I said something along the lines of, “I like you,” as we had many times before. He paused and didn’t say anything for a minute. After what seemed like forever, Matt said, “I think that I more than like you.” I realized that I more than liked him too, but I didn’t say it then. A few days later, we were on that same couch again, and after he told me he loved me, I said that I loved him too.

 2. Sitting outside the temple discussing our life together. When I finally told Matt that I would definitely say yes if he proposed, I think we were both a little shell shocked, even though we had been discussing it for awhile. We already had plans to go to the temple that afternoon, so we decided to go. We ended up just sitting on the beautiful temple grounds, talking about our future life together and how we felt. I felt so perfectly calm and peaceful. I told Matt about that feeling, and he said he was glad it felt that way- that he didn’t want a fairytale, but a happy reality. I just loved that. I love our happy reality.

1. The day Matt stopped by in mid-January that started it all… It was a Thursday morning, and I had slept in because I had already finished my hospice hours for the week, so I didn't need to go in. I was laying on my top bunk bed and talking with my mom about how school, work, and my internship was going, and we talked about how happy I was to not be dating anyone, that I felt content and full in my life. Later that morning Matt knocked on the door to set up an appointment to get together for our calling in church. I felt that I needed to be extra friendly and witty, because I was embarrassed to be in front of him, who I was interested in and didn't know why, in my sweatpants, with no make-up on, and unshowered. I guess I made a good enough impression with my personality, because he called me later that afternoon and invited me on a group date that Saturday. And it all started from there...

WHO ARE WE?

This is Laura. Laura is awesome. She is the greatest. She is cute like a Koala bear (kahhh-YOOT). Laura loves long, intricate Russian novels. She loves old people and babies, and everyone in between as well.  She loves rainy days when she can wear her bright green raincoat. She plans on continuing being kick-a.

This is Matt. He is cute, but not as cute. He likes animal crackers. Matt is a man of many talents. He cooks excellent meals, draws adorable pictures, and speaks 4 languages. Matt is a cuddler. He is the best friend that a girl could ask for. He will be starting his PhD in the fall.

Together they....


Matt and Laura love Indian food. They love going to garage sales, and watching foreign films. They love to sit on the porch at night and talk while looking at the mountains. But most of all they love each other.