Why I love Jeremy

I love my husband for many, many reasons. This past weekend in St. Johns my eyes were opened to a new reason I love him to go along with so many other reasons. He is truly forgiving.

When Jeremy was a boy, he worked on the family ranch. He'd get up early and head out to the ranch with his dad. He worked ALL day long and made a whopping 10 bucks a day. Of that, he paid his tithing first, then half of what was left went to his mission fund. The rest was his to do with as he pleased. That equated to $4.50 a day, not much at all! Have I mentioned that I love his work ethic?

His sophomore year, after working and saving for two years, he finally had enough money to buy a bike, a freestyle bike. It was blue and awesome and he rode that thing everywhere. One day while he was at mutual, his bike got stolen. How ironic is that - it got stolen from the church. He was devastated. He fasted every single Sunday for the return of his bike. He was tireless and full of faith that it would return.

His prayers were answered when one day, there it was sitting across the street from his house. It was under a tree, and only the stickers were peeled off. He was so happy and grateful.

Some of the neighbor kids had told Jeremy who it was, and that the kid who stole it was planning to paint it and keep it, but realizing it wouldn't ever work, and that Jeremy would recognize it, he finally returned it.

This weekend we were in St. Johns talking about how kids that are immature in high school grow up and it can surprise you when you learn what they are doing with their lives. How fantastic that we all grow up! Anyway, Cyndi mentioned Jeremy's bike and mentioned how ------- has changed since the day of stealing that bike. What? It was -------? This guy,------, is one of Jeremy's close friends. All these years of knowing who stole his bike and hearing the story from his mom 50 thousand times about how he fasted for its return, he never once mentioned the guy's name who did it. I asked him why he never told me who it was and he said that he didn't want me to think of him as that guy. We're friends with him, see him all the time, and he didn't want me to think of him negatively.

------- happened to be in St. Johns for the 4th of July like us, and we spent most of the day with him and his family. I watched Jeremy in new admiration all day at his ability to forgive someone who crushed him so long ago. He thinks of ------as a friend, not as the rotten, bike thief. And thinking back to the past 12 years of going to St. Johns and running in to him, Jeremy has never treated him like less than a friend.

When Jeremy brought his bike to our house from St. Johns a few years ago, there was no anger or resentment. Though I knew that this was his bike he fasted for, he never mentioned it, or the kid, even in general terms, just that he wanted to fix it up.

Here it is. Just imagine it with another tire, a seat and a functioning chain and it being 1992. It was pretty hot stuff.

Jeremy is an amazing man. He has a true heart and I love him for the lessons he teaches me everyday, simply in how he lives his life.