I know that I have posted before about being blessed with special friends. And this one is a very similar "Thanks to the Man" post. This weekend, I had a double date with a couple from my ward. Ooooh, not just any ordinary couple - Carl and Jerri Wilson... You know the couple - the Very spiritual, have their whole life together, when I grow up I want to be just like them, couple. :D

Somewhere, about two weeks ago when Rick got ordained with the M Priesthood, something tugged on Carl Wilson to come over to our house for a chat. He asked Rick to do the lesson the next week in Elders Quorum. Well, we got to talking and discovered that we had quite a few things in common. So, that night, he brings Jerri (his sweetheart) back over to our house so we could visit.

This started what is quickly turning out to be a lovely friendship with another couple. But, the thing that I am finding out is that this couple is not the perfect couple that I had thought. In fact, they are a lot like myself and Rick. There are so many similarities, from the way we were raised, to our histories in relationships, and even some "Whoops - I totally messed th at one up" along the way.

What is interesting about this is TWO things - One - I have always felt like I was not part of the ward, or other couples, because of my rebellious past. I have done some things that I am not so proud of, and I always feel like others have had no trouble staying on that straight and narrow, whilst I go and hang out in a bar.... Hmmm - then when it comes time to get to know each other, I don't feel like I can be myself because of some of the things that I have done. I don't want them to be uncomfortable, I am uncomfortable, and then I feel that we will have nothing in common. SO, I have rarely gotten to know other couples or gone on dates (Actually, I have NEVER gone on a double date until saturday night). Which brings me to number TWO - I don't go on double dates. I just don't socialize well in this faucet. Or at least I felt that I didn't. After all, how could anyone feel comfortable hanging out with a deviant such as myself? Not to mention my husband who doesn't know his father (that same father that sowed his oats across the valley and populated half of West High School's 1986-1990 classes). Who would understand that? Especially people in the church, IN UTAH.

But, blessings come when I am doing what is right. I know this. I don't always like to admit it, but I know it. And the Lord put Carl and Jerri with us - and the more that we got to know each other on Saturday night, the more I realized that I was not the only one that struggled with following that straight and narrow. These are two people in the church that I see as having such a great amount of faith and strength, and here we are at dinner - talking about how much people fight in their marriages, or what we did as youth when we thought no one was watching. And, turns out that we were quite a bit alike.

So, I just have to say how grateful I am that I have found a couple, IN MY WARD, that I get along with - that Rick and I can be open and be ourselves with, because they have been where we have been. What a blessing. Little - I know - but for me, it's HUGE.