Part 2: Our Brief Dating Life

My twin sister, Lauren, and I flew down for Luke’s best friend’s farewell talk with our grandparents and spent a week falling in love over and over again. March 29, 2009: “So who was I kidding, I love Luke Arol Maughan. He is the most amazing person I’ve ever met, best guy out there for me. And quite possibly the best thing that’s ever happened to me. We went to Utah on Friday and Oh my heck, I fell in love. Not only with Luke ;), with Cache Valley and everything about Utah… Luke! He is pretty much everything I’ve ever looked for in a guy.” Enough said.

A few weeks after the farewell, my entire family came down to Utah for Spring Break. We were all inseperable for that short time we could be. On April 6th, 2009, Luke took me to Temple Square for the first time and kissed me for the first time at the base of the Salt Lake City Temple. Saying goodbye in Utah that time wasn’t as painful because Luke and Nick came back to Washington with us.

Though things were going great, by summer reality had kicked in. Luke was 19, about to serve a mission for two years. And I was 16, barely able to date. We decided to break our relationship off until later, but remained best friends. Sorta ;) Luke moved to Washington and lived with my grandparents for a few months to work before his mission. He was always someone I could count on. Besides my mom, he was always the first to show up to the Emergency Room… even before the ambulance. (Twice) He gave me a Priesthood blessing whenever I needed him to. He came to my house way past his bed time to check in all the closets and shadows when our parents weren’t home to make sure it was safe. When we got in fights, I would come home to flowers and chocolate on my pillow. When he went to Top Foods, he always pushed in a line of carts… even when I was being a brat. We had a rocky relationship off and on all summer, but ended as best friends. Elder Luke Maughan left on his mission in August.

Part 2: Our Brief Dating Life (written by Luke)

Party Time! Those are the perfect words to describe this event in the development of our relationship. The guys and I were surprised to find out that Kylee and Lauren were flying down for Nathan’s farewell. It was a short visit but one that I will never forget. Just like in Washington we did everything imaginable and had a blast doing it! Up until this point I wasn’t really sure how Ky felt about me. What I did know was that every day I spent with her I fell more and more in love. Sunday night rolled around and sparks flew. For clarification I don’t mean kissing. That will come later. We did however enjoy a nice evening of watching movies about Vampires falling in love with humans. As a 109 year old vampire worked his magic on a sixteen year old girl on the T.V. things became clear to me and Kylee. We both knew at that point how we each felt about the other. Again, it was hard watching her leave the next day. Harder this time where we knew that we liked each other. Good news for us was that we knew when we would see each other next. We only had to wait a week and a half before her entire family would be visiting Utah over their spring break.

April rolled around and the longest week and a half of my life ended. Kylee was finally in town and we had a lot of time to spend together. I was blessed with the opportunity to take her to Temple Square twice. Once for General Conference and once for fun. General Conference was amazing. Not only was I with the girl who held my heart, but I had the opportunity to sit with her at the Prophets feet. We sat together and enjoyed every minute of it. I recognized at this point that Kylee had a quality that was a must. I felt the Spirit while around her. It emanated from her. Being with her made me want to be a better person. She loved God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and was willing to do anything that they required of her. She had me in the palm of her hand at this point. Later that week the grip she had on me tightened. We went to Temple Square again. While there we walked around and had a grand ol’ time. After a period of time we found ourselves alone at the base of the Temple. Romantic right? I thought so. I’ll stop dragging this part of our history out and get to the point. We kissed. Right there. It was blissful. The rest of the week was perfect! We had so much fun together. The time came for Kylee and her family to go back to Washington. I would have been sad again but this time it was different. Nick and I were going with them and staying for a week. I’ll sum that week up with one word: Spectacular. While in Washington Kylee and I realized some very important things. We were young. She was in High School and I was getting ready to leave on my mission. When the time came for me and Nick to leave Kylee and I decided to put our relationship on hold. We both liked each other but it wasn’t going to work out. I was sad but understood. My focus needed to be on preparing to serve the Lord. Her needs were different. They needed to be on dating other people, excelling academically, and developing the individual that she wanted to become. We said our goodbyes on left on good terms.

My life was changed two weeks later. I was offered a job in Washington and took it. I packed my car and made the drive. This was perfect. I had the opportunity to be in a structured environment with people who could help me in preparing to serve my mission. This was something that I needed. I was excited to see Kylee, obviously, but knew that things would not change. We would remain friends. It had to be that way. While there I learned so much more about myself and the kind of person I wanted be. I had great influences who bent over backwards to help me; Kylee being one of them. Our friendship grew and we learned a lot about each other. Don’t get me wrong…we had our battles. Many as a matter of fact. But each time we prevailed and became more understanding of each other. We had established a never ending friendship. She became one of my best friends! I’ll never forget all of the experiences we had together. Especially the sudden trips to the ER! One in which she asked me for a Priesthood blessing, my first healing of the sick. It was 6 of the best months of my life. My love for Kylee grew in different ways this time. Ways that ended up laying the foundation for the relationship in which we now have.

Stay tuned for Part 3 coming next Tuesday ;)