Shout Out: The 1st Sister-in-Law

In the spirit of sibling appreciation (and the fact she left a wonderful comment on the previous post), I’d be slipshod to not give a shout-out to the first sister-in-law I’ve ever had – the Lindsinator. Why do we call her that, I'm sure you're asking. Well, it stems back to when Lindsay was sent from the future to the year 2003 to stop the Potato Gun Debaucle of Birchwood-E...Okay, I just made that nickname up on the fly and it is pretty much stupid; nevertheless, it doesn’t change the great love I have in my heart for Linds.
I first saw Lindsay coming up on 5 years ago in the household cleaning product isle at Wal-Mart in Rexburg, Idaho when she was an 18 year-old freshman at the ‘I’. Nathan had met her at the university bookstore earlier that day ( a job he'd landed for the express purpose of meeting girls; his logic: all the ladies have to swing by the bookstore) and it was a little awkward to pass a couple giggling girls (not her and Nathan…Lindsay and her friend Janae) twice in the store, but when in Rome…
It's hard to believe that was the genesis of an amazing exodous, starting in Idaho would lead to us become kindred seamlessly after her and Nathan persevered through the wilderness of courtship to reach the promised land of marriage. Biblical references aside, Linds and I have had some good times over the past 5 years. If you’ll indulge me:

• Being in the group with her and Nathan on their first date


• Countless subsequent double-dates


• The potato gun incident of ‘03


• Several visits to Provo, including over Valentines Day ‘04


• A long and arduous trek to Colorado to chill with Nathan and me as groomsmen


• Hanging out en route to my Arizona summer


• Chillin’ in Nashville


• The trip to the ATL resulting in my subsequent marriage to Paula

Perhaps the most memorable are my two ventures with Nathan to visit her in her native land of Canadia. The first was in the summer of 03. Nathan told her he loved her and subsequently slipped through the dock into the frigid glacial lake. (I’ve got the picture to prove it.) I made the same trip with the same brother a year and a half later to “the true North, strong and free” to be there when they were married for time and all eternity.

So, Lindsay Michelle, here’s to you – to being my first new sister, to laughing at my antics, to having a good cry over that lug you call your husband, to hooking us up at Outback all summer in Tennessee, to having an infectious attitude that makes us all smile every time we see you.