Love Story Part 9: For Time and all Eternity

The morning of August 5th finally came. I don't remember much about about that morning. I do remember that I got my hair done at 5am and that Tonya Jones came over to do my hair. My dad told my siblings to say goodbye to me and they half halfheartedly waved "bye." He said "This is your last chance to say goodbye to Melissa Marsden. They were kind of both stunned by this revelation and came to give me hugs and say goodbye. Because they were so young, they would not be in the temple ceremony with us.

I was hyperventilating on the way up the steep hill to the temple. My mom thought it was hilarious and still talks about it to this day. Adam had sent a text message that morning asking "are you ready to be stuck to me forever?" It unnerved me. I was so anxious. I got to the temple and checked in where they told me to wait for my groom. When he walked in he was so handsome, so Adam...I wasn't nervous anymore. It was almost like "Oh yeah, this guy! I know him!"  We were able to spend a few special moments inside the Celestial room together holding hands and talking. Adam wasn't nervous at all, he was anchoring me to the situation.

Finally, it was time for the sealing. I remember walking in and seeing all of our family and friends. We were directed to sit on a bench between our two mothers. There I was with my mom in the temple. She was holding one hand while Adam held the other. I remembered that moment twelve years earlier where she had promised if I kept myself clean and pure I would be able to go to the temple. For those that might not be familiar with what that entailed, it meant that Adam and I had refrained from any use of drugs, tobacco, alcohol, etc. and to also keep the law of chastity which meant we would save ourselves for marriage. This, along with keeping our baptismal covenants, and generally trying to be good people.

The ceremony was beautiful. When it was all over Adam had this shocked look on his face like he couldn't believe it was over. We kissed of course and then greeted our family and friends as Mr. and Mrs. Turney.

My aunts had put together a WONDERFUL luncheon afterwords at my aunt Suzie's house. I couldn't believe I was married to my best friend! I couldn't believe that literally everyone that I loved was gathered together to celebrate that. My grandpa sang "Sweet Lady" to me. I think it was in my top three events of the day.

Our reception was held at Lomond View Gardens. It was neat because we were married in the temple I'd watched be built from my bedroom window, then our reception was in the shadow of the mountain that had watched over me for the second half of my growing up life. My uncle Mike's band Endless summer performed and the whole atmosphere was joy and celebration, just as a wedding should be. As the night drew to a close, everyone lined up and was given sparklers. We ran through a shower of fire and cheers to a cute vintage car waiting for us.

When I married Adam that day, I couldn't imagine that five years down the road I would be right where I am in life. I couldn't imagine the struggle, or the sweetness of life. Reality hit about two weeks later when we were sitting in a giant dumpster looking for an 80 dollar gift card that had meant 80 dollars worth of groceries for two people without jobs living in a city where we didn't know anyone. It was our first taste of the real world. No matter what things have come our way, we have faced them side by side. Adam is still my best friend and I'd rather spend time with him than any other person. I'm grateful that we have made our home in Las Vegas. I'm grateful for my two girls. I know more than ever that I made the right choice when I agreed to be his wife. No, life hasn't been completely smooth sailing, we aren't perfect and therefore our marriage isn't perfect. We've made mistakes but we have been incredibly blessed. I look forward to the next five years, and the next, and the next, onto eternity.