So this guy married this girl ...

... and they are doing surprisingly well.  But they were obviously destined for eternal bliss, judging by these fantastic excerpts:

(Taken from an English assignment from 1999 entitled "Ideal Family" Mark's mom saved and recently gave to me:)

"When I grow up and get a family of my own there are a few things that I will try my hardest to make sure that my family has.  The most important thing is that we all love each other and get along well.  The smaller details are that we will have lots of money, a nice house, car, pool ..... My wife has to be a hottie, she has to be a good person that wants to do what is right.  She will have to ... be a member of my church ... be very patient with me because sometimes I am a little slow ... love me enough to pick up my messes when I forget to and not get mad over nothing ... she has to be honest with me and I will be honest with her ... but she really has to be someone that I can just look at her say, 'Dang girl, the curves on you just do not stop.'  [We would have] the coolest kids, I would teach them how to do everything, the boys will play football and baseball, they will be really good but really smart at the same time ... they will be the mac daddy's of their school.  The girls will be cheerleaders or play sports, it will be up to them.  They will be smart and they won't be tomboys at all, their mom will show them that they are girls not boys and how girls are supposed to act."

(Taken from one of my journals from 1999, it has blue dolphins on the cover:)

"I think you should know, I'm giving up precious sleeping minutes for you!  Whoever you are.  If you are my husband, HELLO HOTTIE!  I'm sure you're a gorgeous guy.  And smart.  And funny.  And athletic.  AND MORMON.  (I'll kill myself if you aren't!)  If you are my kids, hello babes!  (You must be adorable if you're related to me!  JUST KIDDIN'!)  Isn't it amazing that I was a kid once too?  That I had crushes on guys?  Guess I'm not totally alien, huh?

..... I never want to hear ANY man say "women are weak".  So I try to prove that I'm just as tough as any guy.  I don't know who I'm trying to prove myself to, but I do it anyway.

..... You know what?  I want my husband to [know how to] catch, clean, and cook fish ... to shoot ... to hunt rabbits ... to go hiking ..."   (please insert hearts at the bottom of every exclamation point)

 (You should probably be aware that Mark was 16 and very sarcastic, and I was 12 and still utterly obsessed with Pocahontas.)


Apparently we were just made for each other.