He changed my life

Ten years ago I realized that my life was about to change forever. I was in love. There was one hiccup to this though, the man that I loved didn't know and I didn't know how he felt about me. Furthermore, we hadn't ever been on a date!
We had been hanging out most of the summer with a whole group of friends, together every day. Every night after work the gang would get together and just chill. We did a lot of roller blading, picnics, hanging out in the canyon, and eating otter pops. Ryan always gave me an orange one. I complained about it after a few days and then he did it just to bug me. In mid July Ryan flew home to Washington, Eric was coming home from his mission. Then he was to fly to Mexico for a month, working as a translator for at a nuclear plant in Vera Cruz. He was scheduled to be back the end of August just in time to start school.
Two days after Ryan left in July, I believe it was the 17th, I started crying. My mom asked me what the problem was and I said "I miss Ryan". She laughed and said "he's coming back" I responded "I love him, and I think I am going to marry him" She said "you have never even been on a date" I knew that and thought I was crazy, but I seriously missed him after just 48 hours and I could hardly stand it. Mom said that I had better let him know how I felt. It took me a few weeks but I emailed Ryan in Mexico and told him that if it was alright with him I would like to go out on a date when he got back. We emailed back and forth and he called me a few times. He ended up needing to stay in Mexico until the end of September instead and was going to fly back to Washington for the semester. Turns out he called his parents and said he wanted to change his flight to Utah because there was a girl there and he needed to find out what she was thinking.
When he stepped off the plane I thought I was going to die. My heart was racing, it felt awkward. I wanted to jump into his arms and never let go. He was here for four days when we had our first kiss, two days later we had our first date. He was here for 11 days total before flying back to Washington and we both knew that this would be forever. Over the next two months we talked every day on the phone and saw each other for a few days when his family came to send Mike on his mission to Chile. When they were here for that Jo took some awesome pictures that ended up being our engagements. He flew back to Utah for good on December 27th, 1999. He proposed to me on New Years Eve. We were married 5 weeks later on February 5th, 2000 in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.
I still remember the first time Ryan told me he loved me. I knew he meant it and it felt so good. He has told me "I love you" every day, many times a day since then and I love hearing it and seeing it in his actions. He is an incredible man that has blessed me for eternity. I am so grateful for the man, father and husband that he is. I am a better person because of him.
I am so happy that ten years ago I was introduced to a great man, that became my best friend and husband and now has blessed me with four beautiful boys. I love him so much. He changed my life forever.