I Love You - Arizona

May 30, 2005

"It is so hot down here! :) John picked me up from the airport and we went out to dinner with his mom and her husband. She seems very nice and also has a fun sense of humor. After dinner we drove out to his sister Jana's house where I stayed the night. I woke up to the sound of Emily trying to open my door at 6:30 in the morning saying, 'Hey you! Hey girl! Are you awake? Open the door!' 

"She is such a cutie! I had a lot of fun getting to know Jana, and her girls were adorable. We ate lunch at the mall and then drove to the theater to meet John. We saw Star Wars III, and then he drove me up to see Canyon Lake."

"I was taking pictures of all the cactus out in the desert because I'd never seen so many before. We got to the lake just before sunset and it was absolutely beautiful. The colors of the sky and the silhouettes of the mountains looked incredible. I loved it."

"I met the Speirs Family that night where I'll be staying for the rest of the weekend. They are the nicest people! We hung out for a while before John had to drive home, then he kissed me goodnight on the porch and I came inside and went to bed. It's nice not to be the one driving back and forth for the weekend, because it's a lonely drive home!"

"In the morning John picked me up after breakfast and we went for a tour of his hometown. He showed me all the places he lived while he was growing up, where he went to school, and where he used to play. I had so much fun listening to all his stories. When we stopped at the old town houses where he once lived, we found a painted hand and foot print that was left by his brothers Brian and Steve on one of the beams of the carport canopy. He couldn't believe they were still there!"

"After hearing all his stories and seeing where he grew up, I felt like I'd known him my whole life. We headed back to his house where he pulled out his photo album from his mission and told me more about the people he met. Later that evening we went to play games with Jenn Speirs and her husband Jason. On the way there John asked me if I had ever seen the gun that he keeps in his car... I asked him what kind of gun it was and he said, 'A machine gun!' Then he pressed the window control button on the driver side door which made his window rattle like a machine gun. It was pretty funny!"

"We had a great time with Jenn and Jason, and when it came time to leave we stepped outside and could smell the moist Arizona dust from an oncoming thunder storm. I had never smelled anything so uniquely refreshing. John got excited and said we were going to the airport graveyard to watch the lightening show. So we drove his little Honda Civic through a bumpy dirt field with only the parking lights on (because technically we were trespassing) and I was getting nervous."

"John pulled his car up to the wing of this old broken down airplane so we could jump on top of it and watch the lightening storm. We stood there in the breeze for a few minutes and then he pointed out at some red lights on a radio tower in the distance and said, 'I heard that if you look closely at those lights they spell out a four letter word.' So I sat there staring at them and couldn't figure it out, so he said, 'You have to use your imagination...' as he traced the letters L-O-V-E with his finger in the air. So I smiled and turned toward him and asked him what he was trying to say. He wrapped me up in his arms and paused for a moment, then he said, 'There's something that's been on my mind for about a month or so, but I didn't really know how to say it. I didn't want to tell you over the phone, so I waited until you could be here in person... so I could tell you that I've fallen in love with you.' Those words never sounded so sweet until I heard him say it to me for the first time... so I made him say it again! :) He laughed and said, 

'I love you Dana.'

"My heart was pounding. He told me he'd never said those words to anyone else outside his own family, so you could say I felt extremely special. I knew I loved him too, and I meant it when I said it back to him. We both confessed that every time we said 'I miss you' on the phone we were dying to say 'I love you' instead. So there we were, standing in each other's arms on the wing of an airplane, while the lightening danced in the background and the breeze rushed against our faces. John softly began to sing 'More Than Words' into my ear while we danced. It couldn't have been more perfect. :)"

"We sat down on the wing and talked about what this new step in our relationship would mean. We know we're not ready to get married yet, and both of us want to finish our Associate's Degrees (which won't be for another year), so we're looking forward to spending more time together and getting to know each other better over the next few months. We could still be engaged by the end of the year, but we want to take our time and make sure it's the right decision for both of us. I admire John for being so rational and mature. I'm so grateful for his example and his friendship. I truly am in love with him."

"We spent Sunday with the Speirs Family, and today we went hiking up at Camel's Back Mountain."

"We took some fun pictures and sat on a rock and talked about his family and how his brothers met their wives. Then he took me shopping and we went swimming with his nieces. There were a bunch of other kids there that were ganging up on me with squirt guns, so John came to my rescue and fought them off with a super soaker. We hung out at Jana's afterward and then went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory."

"On the way there we heard the song 'I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You' by Savage Garden on the radio, so John looked at me and smiled and said, 'This song is very, very appropriate for this occasion.'

"So that became OUR song."

"This four day weekend has been the longest amount of time we've gotten to spend with each other so far, and I have loved every single minute of it. It took me a while to adjust to the heat, but I wouldn't mind living here some day if things work out the way we want them to. I know it's going to be hard to leave this time. We had such a great weekend together!"