Letters to Lindsay

While Ben and I were dating, his good friend, Lindsay was serving an LDS mission in Boston. I remember Ben telling me this, and wondering if she and my parents would ever cross paths. Eventually they did.

At the time my parents were apprehensive about me dating Ben. They could sense things were getting serious, and didn't like that they had no way of meeting him in person. They had Lindsay over for dinner several times, and got to hear a lot about Ben. She helped put their minds at ease.

In March, Lindsay sent me the letters that Ben wrote her at that time.
Reading them brought such bittersweet tears.
I will treasure them forever.

27 May 03

Linds,

Hey there Rupp. How's things goin' for ya? By the time you get this you should be close to your second week, or now that I actually think about it well into your second week. These long weekends with Gin are confusing me. It is Tuesday, not Friday. So anyway the long weekend with Gin went exceptionally well. She met (and survived) most of my family. Even my crazy mother. Funny story. When I took her home the first thing two of her roommates asked was, "Where is the ring??" She laughed. In all truth we did talk about that on the ride back. We both agree that rushing that is a really dumb thing to do and we will just focus on being together, for the time being and make that decision further down the road. So we have had, "the talk." To be honest Linds, I do think this will go somewhere but not in any kind of hurry. Definitely not before the end of the year. That, for now, is pretty certain. So anyway, that's the latest on that. So hows the MTC treating ya? It's cool, but getting out in the field is way better. You will know what I mean soon. Anyway, Linds, I have to catch up for five days of playing with Gin. Write back.

With love, you friend,
(Ben's signature)
Romans 1:16

Written on the other side...

2 June 03

Okay so I wrote this & didn't send it, so you get some extra letter on the back. My sister needed me to take her to Yellowstone to work for the summer and as you can imagine I picked Gin up on the way and we spent the night in a cabin in Gardiner, Montana. Linds, I really do love this girl. I told her that, and she feels the same. We still aren't rushing towards the big M, but I think this may be headed in that direction sooner than I thought. I just don't feel right when I'm not with her. Oh well. I guess you don't need to hear this sappy stuff, so I will cut this short.

Love ya lots.
(Ben's signature)

I love everything about them.
His adorable trademark chicken-scratch handwriting...
His uncharacteristically bad grammar and run-on sentences....
As I read the letters, I could literally see his excitement and exuberance. He was always so eager to tell people about me and about us; like I was his greatest treasure.
He adored me completely.