Tucker and Karli--Part 1

I haven't really told Tucker's and Karli's story.  I didn't want to pry, and mostly, I didn't want to tell more than they told themselves.

Let's start with a short summary of the Tucker/Karli story, shall we?

Tucker and Karli began running with the same group of friends when they were in ninth grade.  It was a great group of kids, and I was thrilled that Tucker had finally found a group where he belonged.

I loved Karli from the first.  She is funny, smart, beautiful, great with kids, and grounded in what matters in life.  Many many times over the next four years I would jokingly tell Tucker, "You should marry Karli, you know that."  He would roll his eyes and say, "MOMMMM!"  in that tone all moms recognize.

They went to Homecoming their junior year, and continued to hang out in the same group of friends.  During this time of his life, Tucker would have told you that Karli was his best friend.  But that was all.  Best friends.

When it came time for him to think about his senior prom, Tucker didn't really want to go.  He thought it was a waste of money, and who would want to go with him, anyway?  I told him he needed to go because if he stayed home, then that meant some senior girl who really wanted to go would end up spending the night at home and that wouldn't be fair for her.  Then I told him he needed to ask Karli.

"She wouldn't want to go with me.  She has tons of other guys who will ask her."  This was true, it turned out.  Right at that moment he got a text from a friend, "I hear that __________ is going to ask Karli to Prom."

Tucker got his dander up a little, and that's when he decided he was going to ask her first. And she said yes.

Six weeks later, I planned an Amazing Race day activity for their group to complete the Saturday before Prom, and Tucker and Karli walked away with the prize.  After the activity was over, Tucker and I were standing at the kitchen island when he said, "Ya know, Mom, Karli makes a pretty good partner."

Duh, Tuck.

By the time Prom was over, they were an item.

They spent their summer hanging out together and realizing there was something between them that had developed past being best friends for the past four years.

They both headed up to BYU that fall and purposely spent much of their time apart, dating other people and having freshman college experiences.  As the school year neared its end, Tucker received his mission call to New York City, and they both knew they would be apart for the next two years.  Although he didn't expect her to don mourning clothes and cloister herself during his mission, Tucker really hoped Karli would be available when he returned home.  When he asked her if she might be around in May 2013, she replied, "That was always the plan."

Karli stayed in the background as he prepared to leave, never encroaching on our family time, but often included in our activities.  When he left, she occasionally visited our family when she was home from school, and they wrote each other throughout his mission (she more regularly than he). 

Hundreds of letters over two years.

We thought she might be around when he got home,and as the months dwindled to weeks and then days until he returned, we realized that this relationship would last through two years spent apart.

Tomorrow:  A four-week whirlwind