Thursday, March 2, 2017

Winnng the Lottery


His drivers license says he was born on March 2.
His birth certificate says he was born on March 3.
So I am splitting the difference and writing this at almost midnight.
The first time I ever laid eyes on him (other than the facebook stalking and investigating) was during a pretty difficult time in my life. It had been a rough summer for the Winn family. It had been a personally emotionally difficult time.  My Megan had been through one of the toughest experiences to date and was starting a new chapter in her life. She had told me about this guy named Dave. She told me about what an amazing friend he was. She told me that he was so much fun. That he liked to laugh and tease and he had an amazing ability to make anyone in the room feel special. She told me that he was kind to everyone. He went out of his way to talk to the person in the room that seemed alone and needed friendship. She told me that he was so good looking and he had an amazing smile and an infectious giggle.  She said that he unfortunately was only going to be in Provo for that semester and then he was moving to Florida. I could tell that she was impressed and excited about this young man but was being careful to not get hurt. She had actually initially met him when she saw the word "Guatemala" splashed across his back. "Guatemala" was a word that had taken on new meaning in our family. Jack had received a mission call to Guatemala and to say that my anxiety was at an all time high was an understatement.
It was two days before Jack reported to the MTC that I met him.  Probably not the best time to meet someone who is potentially interested in your daughter but it was what it was. Megan vacillated between her excitement to introduce him to us and her fears of being hurt. Add that to us all saying one of the sloppiest hardest goodbyes to her brother ( the Winns are horrible with goodbyes) and you can see what an electrically charged time it was. We were sitting at Kneaders, Jacks favorite place to eat. Megan had invited Dave to eat with us but was unsure if his schedule would permit or if he even wanted to meet us. After all it's a scary thing to say to a guy you hardly know...Hey would you like to meet my parents? It looked as if he was going to be a no show. Megan and I were sitting on a little couch pushed up to the table and she lay her head on my shoulders. "I don't think he is coming...I don't think he likes me enough" she sadly sighed. I was thinking how we didn't need this right now. Megan did not need to get hurt. I did not need to worry about one more thing. I did not want to say goodbye to Jack. This was not good. And to top it all off there was this dude standing there grinning. I was just about to snap and say...what do YOU want! Leave us alone! when I realized who it was. It was Dave. Megan quickly picked her head up off my shoulder and pretended as if all was right with the world. And you know what? It was!
Dave helped make it right.
He came into our family at a time when we needed him. His gentle spirit...his infectious giggle....his love of people and his uncanny ability to make people feel good about themselves was EXACTLY what we needed...right then and right now.
He didn't just show that love and kindness to Megan but to all of us. He treated me like I was special and that my feelings and needs were important to him as well. I am not sure he knew then what that meant to me at that time in my life.
As a mother in law you hope that your child finds someone kind....someone who treats them with dignity and respect....someone who will be their best friend...someone to build an eternal family with.
After all that's all you should really ask for.
You hope that you get as a bonus another child to love and be loved by.
Well.... I won the lottery.
Maybe that's why he has two birth dates.
He deserves them both.
The end
(wait...are there floods on Uranus?)