From the Cottage of Princess Buttercup.......

When I was Sixteen.......Sixty Four years ago......The light turned on in my life......
The moment I met this cute boy.......Not knowing much about him.....only that he was always
cracking everyone up and everyone seemed to like to be around him.......And my biggest
fascination with him was that he never got mad............This was a tremendous plus.......That
was huge.....Did I say gigantic?..........He simply made fun.....and saw fun in every single facet
of his life..............I could hardly believe that he was real.........He was a very handsome young
man.............He was strictly an athlete............Loved sports.......and played the drums........And
most of all...........One day at South High School .....our eyes met......And I was never really
ever the same after that.............He knew nothing about social skills......He would call me up on
the phone.......And hardly would say a word.......But a lot of What?....and Huh's?..........He was
extremely bashful.......and I thought I had met the most handsome hunk in the entire world.....
He was so bashful that he would sit at the sacrament table but would never say the blessing
on the sacrament..................Also in school........He would sit with his topic prepared but when
the teacher asked him to read it.....He would say unprepared..............
But .......I had not had much of a social life either.......He never had asked a girl out
ever.........And I had never had a boyfriend..........And so it all began..............My life took on a
different color.......It was starting to bloom........And I had a new landscape that surrounded
me.......And I started to think for the first time.......There were really miracles..........Could this
darling blonde guy be interested in me?...............He had so much hair.....that he had to have
it thinned.........And it was curly........big time.............And to be truthful......We both had so many
things in common....................I was kinda shy........also..........And neither of us came from
families that had made their fortunes............At least green fortunes...............We both came
from struggling families..............But we both seemed to have strong constitutions.........At
least I knew I did............I lived with a lot of strictness......and nothing ever was funny at our
house..............That was a drawing card for me............This family that I was being inroduced
to was......operated in force by Grama Nielsen........I called her the Sheriff.....And Granpa her
posse..........................And my Mom was timid and always afraid of my Dad.....So we all were....
My Dad wasn't cruel.....But he was not soft......He was the head of the house and everyone
stood at attention.....when he came home.......
So ......This light hearted boy that captured my heart......was fun loving.....and loved
his Mom..........And I saw in him......wonderful things..........And I have thought for so many
years........The way we met......and the certainty of the relationship that we both fell so hard
.................It had to have been just a picking up..... where we left off in heaven..............It was all
so perfect...............I seemed to be strong....in ways that were of help to him.......And he was
the smile in my life that I hadn't found until now.......And this brand new lighthearted life
with this guy that was always making jokes with everyone just cemented my feelings for
him.......................I had missed that kind of humor................He was the mortar between
my cement blocks........of the house that I always wanted............I knew that the Lord had
stepped into both of our lives..............And spoke to both of us..............I knew that .......We
were somehow meant to be................And nothing that has ever happened since.......ever
changed that fact.......................I needed him so bad.............And I just loved him so much......
that I was always in his corner............And I knew I was President of his Fan Club.......from
the beginning.................I saw such a long time ago........through the spirit.....that he was the
chosen one for me...................Never......Never......Never......Did I ever doubt it through all
the four years before we were married......and the 18 more years that I have waited for that
boy that I met so long ago.............And that I never had long enough............Because
I had to share him with so many people..............That is what happens when you meet and
marry a really great guy like him................I loved what one of the general autorities wives
said in Stake Conference.....It was Sister David Burtons wife.......She said....."We are the only
church in the world where we are sealed for time and all eternity......And spend our entire
life alone."................I wanted to stand and salute..............But all in all...........Now as I look back
on my years.............My strict home worked in my favor........I so appreciated what I was so
lucky to find............This handsome basketball star.......And this Football quarter back that
got a scholarship to BYU....even tho he wasn't elegible to play on the team and for the school
because he quit school to work for the Railroad when his Dad was called on a Mission.....
And he gave his entire paycheck to his Mom.............That was typical of the things that stirred
in his heart.......He adored his Mom and Dad....And loved his family like no other.......Out of
all the brothers......Bill.....Mort......Warren.....Norm......Ron.......And himself.......,.He was the
one that gifted his Mom with the thrill of going on a Mission and Marrying in the temple.......
And I loved his Mom......with all my heart and soul.......And she I think loved me.....because
I helped her boy......be the best he could be......I just helped..............I take no credit......He quit
school all on his own................He was good to the core...........And I always felt it was my
privelege...........It was the Lords goodness to me.............That spending the Forty two years
together...............1949-1991................It was not long enough.............But what an honor.....
really........To be sealed to someone the Lord wanted so badly to take him away from so
much love....................But the beauty of it all......Is that we are just in different places together
.................Remember that joke that Robyn laughed so hard at......When Dad repeated why
he waves to guys he doesn't know?............Because they went to different schools together?.
That is just so funny to me...............It is so like something he would make up..............
I kinda wanted to pay a little tribute to him today..........Because he was truly the
iciing on my cake.............He was the cherry on my Strawberry Sundae...........He was the
whip cream on my Pumpkin Pie..................Without him ......where would I have been?
I would have been a lost little soul......wandering around looking for him...........And yeah!
He would have been hanging out with Unc playing ball somehere............But it was hard to
ever get really Ho Hah! with him...........Because I loved him so much.................Even tho .....
one time.....when we lived up on Canyon Rim......I had 10 dollars a week for groceries.....
And could buy not even a 19 cent dust pan.....had to wash dishes under boiling water....No
soap............And no makeup................And he went and bought a fishing pole ....to go fishing
with his brothers...............He didn't even like to fish!...........Grrrrr!........13 dollars that fishing
pole cost...........And also at Canyon Rim..........They called up and asked him to go to
work on the Farm and pitch Hay..........He didn't want to..........And I said.."Wait....yes you
do"...........Even then.................I couldn't have asked for more in any way shape or form.....
Than what he gave me............I was the only girl he ever asked out on a date......Can you
believe that?......................On this little Memorial Day............You will find me being very very
grateful for every single experience that has been mine........For they all together has made
me have the thankful heart that I have...............No one has ever been blessed with as much
as I have......And I wonder sometimes why the Lord has been so good to me........I have all
that I could ever want right at this minute.......I have good health.....a little cottage that has
my name on it.......also some wheels so that I can drag State........I have enough.....and then
some...................In fact I have way more than I need.....I can never repay the Lord for his
goodness to me....................Never,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,And for my great family............I chose you all.....
you were handpicked in heaven............And because the Lord loved me so much he sent all
the ones I also wanted but couldn't have as grandchildren.......I am more than blessed....
And I couldn't live long enough to make it right with the Lord......This is a little long...........
Woah!..........Gram steady the horses........they need a drink............But please know that I
adore every single one of you...............This is Princess Buttercup still waiting for her
Farm Boy!...............In her little cottage................Love ya all..............