The Blankenagels: When Jason came home.

This month marks four years from when Jason came home from his mission. I can not believe how fast the time has gone! I have been thinking a lot about the weekend he came home, and meeting the family, My wonderful sister in law Brittney sent me a few pictures that brought back all the ~~fear~~ memories.

Now that it's been four years, I can tell the story, and it's OK to laugh about it now, right?

A quick background story

Jason and I met Fall of 2005. We have known each other seven years! He and I just kind of clicked, and we quickly became good friends. While Jason was on his mission, I always tried to make sure I answered the letters he wrote me. (Even if it wasn't as often as he would have liked at first!) I dated other guys, but nothing ever went anywhere. It was fun to be able to write letters to Jason. We were already really good friends, and writing letters helped build on that. We were really able to connect through our letters, and it helped us grow even closer. As time got closer to him coming home, I was quickly realizing how much he meant to me, and I couldn't picture myself with any other guy.

Because I'm a girl, and I have always considered my Mom to be one of my very best friends, I used to tell her almost everything. She knew Jason and I were friends, that we went on a few dates, and he helped me through some difficult times, including a broken engagement. She knew I really liked him. My family definitely knew all about Jason.

Jason on the other hand, is not a guy that shares details. He usually only shares what he's asked. (Sometimes I get amused when I hear him telling his Mom about his week. What he tells her in 30 second would take me 10 minutes to tell, because he left out all the details! ;) Even though I had been good friends with him, I'm pretty sure his family had NO idea who I was! I briefly met a few of them shortly before he left on his mission, but I don't know if they remembered me. I can only imagine what they were thinking. Who was this random girl?

Knowing his family had no idea who I was made me very nervous to meet them. I have been cursed with extreme shyness, and I would normally avoid this kind of situation like the plague. However, my excitement to see Jason quickly overpowered my shyness. I was determined to go down there no matter what.

I arranged a ride down with his sister. I was scared to make the long drive with people I didn't know, but lucky for me, Brittney and Sean are really nice. whew

(My Mom made the comment after I got home, that she knew it must be true love when she actually saw me driving away. I think she was kind of surprised I went through with it!)

When we pulled up to the house, I was so scared, but so excited! Those emotions quickly turned into fear when I found out Jason wasn't even home! So there I was in the house with his entire family, without Jason, and I had no idea what to expect. I still give him a hard time for that.
Then I met his Dad! Oh the memories! :) (Only good ones of course...)

I was so relieved when Jason came into the house. Lucky for me, he still liked me. His family is very nice, and the weekend turned out to be really fun! Jason says he still would have married me if I hadn't gone down to La Sal that weekend, but I'm glad I didn't risk it! ;)