Its kinda long. It was a very weird and unusual day.
It was Friday, July 2nd. Benji’s brother and brother’s girlfriend, Andy and Tara, had come to town to spend the long weekend with us. During the day, while I was at work and in classes, Benji, Andy and Tara just hung out around town and ran some errands.
Then as soon as I was off work the four of us were going to go to swimming and then later that night go to a concert. In the meantime, while I was at school and work, Andy and Tara got into a disagreement and Andy decided he was going to go on a walk to cool off.
When I finally got off work, Andy was still gone on his walk, so the three of us decided we were still going to go swimming. After getting ready and driving for 15 minutes where we wanted to swim, Tara and Benji jumped in the water then decided after 5 minutes they were not in the mood.
As we were driving back, Benji still frustrated of what happened with Andy, Benji and I had a misunderstanding. When we finally got back to my apartment, Benji helped Tara and I get our stuff out of his car then drove off, which is very not like him. As he quickly drove off I was very confused of what was going on, and I tried to immediately call him and figure it out, but he did not answer his phone.
A few minutes later, Benji calls me to ask what is wrong and why I am upset with him. As I explain to him I am not upset and I just thought he was upset about what happened to Andy and Tara, I convince him to drive back to my apartment to see me and I will meet him outside in the parking lot.
As we are talking, Benji explains he does not want to go to the concert anymore, but I tell him we are still going to go because we have been looking forward to this concert ever since we found out about it and we are not going to let anything ruin it, even if it is just the two of us who go.
After a few minutes of convincing, Benji finally agrees to still go to the concert. He leaves to go back to his apartment to get ready. As Tara and I are getting ready at my apartment, Tara keeps trying to convince me to dress really cute and I don’t understand why. I keep thinking it is just a concert; nothing exciting is going to happen.
A little bit later, Benji and Andy come back over to pick Tara and I up. Then the four of us go to get something to eat for dinner. All during dinner, Benji keeps texting someone. When I ask who it is he says one of his cousins. When we are about to go the concert, Benji finds out from “his roommate” that the location of the concert got moved. So, when we finally get to the new location of the concert, we find out it is going to be starting late.
While we are waiting for the concert to start, Benji keeps going up to the lead singer of the band to talk. After he does this about 4 or 5 times, I begin to get a little frustrated, because I don’t understand why he keeps leaving me to talk with her sticking me to be with Andy and Tara when they are still in their disagreement.
Finally, after waiting in the super hot attic of where the concert is supposed to be for two hours, the band we wanted to see finally starts playing. After playing about four songs, they begin to play mine and Benji’s song, which is called “I Wouldn’t Mind,” which talks about not minding spending forever by someone side, and first being afraid then deciding to want to wake up to their smile for forever.
As Benji and I stand in the very back behind everyone else we have our own special moment together and our super excited they are playing our song.
In the middle of the song, the lead singer stops singing and invites Benji and I up to the stage. As we are walking up there she explains to the crowd that she has never seen a love like ours before and she asks Benji to explain how you do it.
After Benji says some things, he turns and looks at me and says, “I really wouldn’t mind spending forever by your side, Rebecca.”, and everyone goes crazy, cheering and screaming.
Then he gets on one knee, or tries to, but before he gets all the way down I grab his neck and don’t let go and as he picks me up he whispers in my ear, “Will you marry me?” After a few kisses, he puts me down and puts the ring on my finger in front of everyone, and then the band continues to finish playing the song as we continue to stay on stage and give each other a few more kisses and talk between ourselves and hold each other close.
After the song is over, Benji and I walk to the very back behind everyone else and he begins to tell me about the experience he had asking my parents for permission, my ring and what he had to do to keep it a secret from me for a whole month.
After the concert is over, I come to learn Andy and Tara came to visit just to be there when Benji proposed. Benji had been in contact with the band ever since the beginning of June and he was texting one of the band members all during dinner and they were the one to let him know the location of the concert had changed.
A year ago from today, I had been at school for 12 hours. I was tired. More than tired I was exhausted. I was ready to go to bed, but still had several different things I needed to do for school and I was supposed to go on a DATE, a BLIND date.
That semester I had not gone on too many dates, which I was completely ok with, because I had become so engrossed with my classes. I loved school. I loved doing my homework. I involved myself in my classes as much as I possibly could. I loved it.
The two girls who were trying to make this date happen had been trying for me to meet this boy for weeks, but every time something was arranged I was either too busy or that day I just didn’t feel like it, so it took weeks for this it to finally happen.
Reluctant and very unwanting, I went on this blind double date. It was supposed to consist of the boys making dinner, and then going to watch the boys play basketball, and then do something later that had been undecided. After such a long day at school, I decided I would just go to dinner and skip out on the basketball game to work on homework, but really it was because who wants to sit on the ground to watch two boys that you don’t really know all that well get stinky and sweaty by bouncing a ball back and forth, not me. So I went home to work on homework during the game.
Then dependent on how well dinner went, I would decide to do this after game thing that had yet to be decided. Dinner went as well as a blind date dinner can go, so I decided I would do the after basketball game plans, which ended up consisting of getting hot chocolate and going to this place on campus called the gardens to talk to get to know each other, just he and I.
As we sat in the gardens, we talked and laughed about our families, our lives – future and past, what we wanted in our future, school…you name it. As the night quickly came to an end, I knew I wanted to know more. So, that night became the first of the many nights and many hours he and I would spend together.
A year later, I am anxiously waiting for the day (100 days!) to be sealed for time and all eternity to that same boy. I am at a point in my life I thought I would never be at. Honestly, I thought I would NEVER be here.
I had always dreamed that one day I would be the girl I am today, the woman I have become, almost married to my best friend, and graduated from college, with everything that I was ever worried about then all figured out. I do not have to worry about what my major is going to be, or who I am going to marry, or if I will have any friends, or if I will have nice roommates, or if I can handle my classes. I made it through all that, somehow. It definitely was not the easiest phase of my life, but somehow I got here.
Quite frequently, Benji and I talk about how things would be different if we had met earlier in the semester or if we had met before his mission and we both know things would not have worked out as well as they have.
I am so grateful for the Lord’s timing and hand in all things and the ability he has to bring people into our lives when we need it the most. I am so grateful for good friends and the ability they have to sometimes see things when you don’t. I am grateful for the man I am to marry and all the things he does do and has done for me, from the beginning. He has become my best friend better than I could have ever asked for.
As I head to Rexburg this weekend to be with Benji, I could not be any happier and anxiously cannot wait to spend the rest of eternity with him.
"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love. ... We can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts can attitude of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
- Thomas S. Monson
Friday, November 5, 2010
Posted by
The Grigg's
"Love is that condition in which happiness of another person is essential to your own"
We are a Texas girl and Colorado boy who were introduced to each other on November 11, 2009 on a blind date. Then things led to another. On July 2, 2010 Benji proposed at the He is We concert in Rexburg, Idaho and I very willingly said yes! We were then married in the Houston, Texas LDS temple on February 19, 2011. We have landed in Nebraska. We are living life rolling with the punches seeing where it takes us together, with only time telling.
Its no wonder he has the whole family wrapped around his finger.
