The Jump

Jason was attracted to my red hair.

Right before the Jump!

A lot of people laugh when I tell them that Jason and I met bungee jumping. It seems like such an adventurous way to meet. It was but it was also a total God thing. You see, I've always wanted to go bungee jumping. So my bff, Lindsay,  decided that she had heard enough of me griping and took me for my 20th birthday.

On that warm spring day in March, we head out to the Angeles National Forest in Azusa. We were supposed to meet the group in a supermarket parking lot. We get there and as we head over to the group, I notice two guys that I automatically pick out as being military by the way that they carry themselves. We all say our pleasantries and caravan over to the National Forest where we get to hike 4 miles along the canyon to get to the bridge we are jumping off of. You see, they were working on building a road through the park but a flood took out part of it and they decided not to continue. So now they have The Bridge to Nowhere and people jump off of it. Let me assure you that the bridge is perfectly sound and sturdy. We all head off on the hike and of course, these two military guys are way in front of the pack while my bff and I are in the back enjoying the hike and stopping to take pictures. Well, during the hike there were a couple of river crossings and I have the balance of a top, so I decided to just wade through the streams because I knew that I would get wet anyways. This got the attention of one of the guys and he shot me a smile with his baby blue eyes that made me swoon. I smiled back at him and went on my way. I still remember the group stopping for a break and he started throwing grapes at me! I threw them back at him and was about to say something when he offered me cadbury eggs. I quickly forgave him. When we finally make it to the bridge, I needed to go to the bathroom but my shoes were all wet. I asked to borrow some dry shoes and Mr. Grape Thrower offered me his. Since our feet were nowhere near the same size, I took them and went off in my clown shoes to the bathroom.

Once back, we start talking and he told me that his name was Jason and that he was a Marine. Our first conversation went something like this.

 Me: "So, are you in the Army?"

Jason: "No, I'm a Marine"

Me: "Oh, I know your type."

Jason: "We're not all like that!"

Me: "Sure!" -Please note the sarcasm.

 Well, Jason spent the rest of the time proving me wrong. We joked around and laughed and thoroughly enjoyed each other's company. I jumped 3 times and Jason jumped 5 times and so we said our goodbyes and Lindsay and I started heading back to our car. I think we got lost because before we knew it, we were at the bottom of the canyon and not sure which way to go. We were starting to freak out when we climbed up a little hill and guess who was at the top with his hand out to help me up. My knight had showed up to take me to the car. We eventually made it back, but we spent the rest of the time smiling, laughing and flirting. He told me that he had never been to In N Out Burger, so Lindsay and I took him and showed him the light. Then I gave him my number and left with a huge smile on my face.

A couple days later, he sent me one of those corny e-birthday cards and I thought that was so sweet. We started to hang out, which was a bit of a drive since Jason lived on Camp Pendleton. But we still saw each other every week and sometimes a couple times a week. We didn't want to start dating because he was slated to deploy in June and had lots of training to build up to the deployment. I remember how sad I was when he told me that he would be on ship for 2 weeks. I figured that I wouldn't hear from him and it was a big deal because we talked into the late hours every night. But I remember him surprising me and calling me from the ship. It was incredibly sweet at a dollar a minute.

One thing led to another and one night he went in for a kiss and I slammed the door in his face. Then I quickly opened it and told him that we needed to figure things out. A week later, we were at La Jolla Beach sitting on a bench. I remember I was in the middle of a sentence and he just leaned in and kissed me. I was shocked but I told him that he was being rude and continued talking. He promply told me to stop talking and kissed me again. It was magical.  I had come to realize that I loved this man and that he was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But every day brought the dreaded deployment closer.

June came faster than ever and Jason was getting on a ship to leave for six months. I remember dropping him off on his ship. There were lots of people there and Lindsay and I got the grand tour. Eventually Lindsay and I had to leave even if I wanted to hide in his sea bag.  We emailed each other, wrote and he called when he could. But it was amazing how much I still missed him. We had moved so quickly and I was ready to marry him, in fact, I started sending him links to diamond rings. But even half a world apart, we grew closer and more in love.

December came and he was coming back!! I was so happy when I got the call that I could go pick him up. The unit was going to be back at night and I remember being so excited to see him again for the first time in months. As I was waiting with all the family, I was ecstatic when the men started coming out of the building. And then a horrible realization hit me. Everyone looked the same!!! I was kicking myself for not bring a picture. How was I going to pick him out of the crowd? I stood there stunned like a deer in the headlights when a very tall Marine made a beeline for me. We embraced and kissed. And boy am I glad that it was Jason and not some random guy! As happy as we were, there was still a nagging thought in the back of our minds that Jason might have to head right back to Iraq for the war. But we just tried to enjoy the time we had and we were planning on visiting his family. I went to pick Jason up to go on leave when he told me that his leave got recalled and he was going to war. That night, we cried together but we still had hope.

Three days before Jason was going to get on another ship, we were in his barracks packing. I was so upset I was about to cry when he looked at me and asked me to marry him. I did the only thing my brewing emotions would let me and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Looking back, it was probably not what he was expecting! I finally got control and said yes.

Jason left for the war and I had a horrible time. I wrote him everyday and ran to the mailbox everyday but for three months I got nothing. What made it worse was that I had a classmate that had a fiance in the war and they talked everyday! Then finally, I got a letter from him. Well, it was more like a postcard. He had torn up a box from his MRE and written on it. Then the mail came more frequently and finally he came home in May.

The best day of my life.

My favorite wedding picture. 

We didn't waste time and were married on August 16th. It was the best decision of my life and I'm still so blessed by my dear love.