My Side of the Story

Tiffany told me a few of you wanted to hear my side of the story so here it is (I warn you - I'm long winded, but I'll try to keep it short and to the point):
Last September (2008) I bought a condominium near my sister's townhouse and moved out of my parent's house - much to their excitement. An important thing to note: ever since the mission field I have enjoyed sharing the gospel but haven't been able to find many opportunities to do so. I hoped that with the move I would have new neighbors that I could share the gospel with.
I immediately left the University 24th ward and began attending the 44th where I was quickly called to serve as a ward missionary. Tiffany was also a ward missionary and after about two weeks the Bishopric decided to make me the Ward Mission Leader. Tiffany was soon after released and called to be the Ward Choir Pianist. I think I spoke with her once or twice when she was a ward missionary.

A couple months later my neighbor Nicole was moving some furniture into her condo so that her parents would have a place to sleep when they visited from China. Nicole is from Canton, China and has lived in the U.S. for about the past eight years. I offered to help her move the furniture and as I was leaving she asked me about church. I was so excited! I promptly invited her to church and to ward activities and I think I had my roommate Roger drive her to church (I have PEC meetings every Sunday before church starts).
I knew that there had to be someone in the ward that spoke Chinese and I hoped that Nicole would become friends with whomever it was. I asked around and discovered that Tiffany spoke Cantonese and served a mission in Hong Kong. I was thrilled! I introduced Nicole to Tiffany and they became best friends.
Ever since December Nicole had been attending church and I was ecstatic. The ultimate goal was to invite her to take the discussions. I had talked to her about it a few times and she mentioned that she had back in October but she didn't feel like the missionaries had really answered her questions. I kept in contact with Tiffany and she also invited Nicole to take the discussions. Eventually she agreed and we began having the discussions at my place.

Tiffany came to every discussion. I never had any idea that things weren't peachy at home for her. Nicole had had about half the discussions and the following Sunday I was talking to Tiffany, asking her how her weekend was. I asked her if there was anything that I could do for her and she responded, "Not unless you have a cure for cancer."

I inquired what she meant and she proceeded to tell me that her dad was dying of cancer. I was blown away. I couldn't believe that she had been dealing with such a dreadful experience all along.
Now I'm not the caretaker type. Early on Tiffany asked me if I was because she was afraid that was why I all of a sudden became interested in her. The truth is, I always thought she was pretty and when I found out that she was being such a devoted and caring friend to Nicole while her dad was falling apart I was impressed. I truly appreciated her being such a good friend to Nicole. I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to share the gospel with Nicole, but Tiffany had taken care of and helped her in ways that I could not.
Life is hard but God is good. I wanted to help Tiffany so that she didn't have to deal with her father's sickness alone.

A few days after this I was thinking and it dawned on me (revelation?) that I would be a moron to pass this up. I should ask her out at least once. So I did. We went to Spaghetti Mama's.
Spaghetti Mama's is a place where you get real value for the money you spend. It's a great place for first dates because an $8 or $9 meal gets you unlimited breadsticks, a salad, your meal, and a little bowl of ice cream after. I was explaining this to Tiffany when we got there, but I used the word, "cheap" and she teasingly extrapolated that to mean she was a cheap date. The waitress joined in and I was getting buried alive. It was fun, though.
Anyhoo, after that we went to Off Broadway Theatre's Laughing Stock. I figured she could use a good laugh. Laughter has always been an integral part of my life and I've found it makes the difficult times easier to get through.
After that I took her home. That was Friday. Her dad died Sunday morning at like 1AM. I received the text while I was in a PEC meeting so I passed the word along to the Bishopric and ward leadership. I went to Tiffany's house after church to show my support. That week, leading up to the funeral, I offered whatever I could for support. I didn't want to overstep my bounds since I had only gone out with her on one date and I wasn't sure if she was interested or not. I offered what I could and then let her decide what she wanted me to do. One of the great side-effects of the funeral was that I got to meet her family. This was definitely a plus, because after I met them, I liked them. All of them: the kids, the adults... I was in good company. They never made me feel unwelcome, and I was grateful for that.
After the funeral I spent almost every day with her. I upped my texting plan twice because we were texting nonstop. We continued teaching Nicole with the missionaries and we (it was definitely a team effort) baptized Nicole on March 14th. The rest is history.

In just under three short months I get to spend the rest of forever with the woman I love. I was blessed with two great things from one situation: the opportunity to successfully share something that means so much to me (the gospel) AND a wife (soon)!

...I told you I'm long winded...

How I Did It by O.J. Simpson...er, Christopher "Bubba" Bollinger

I've received a few requests for the details of my proposal to the most amazing woman in the world: one Tiffany Messick.

When my brother proposed to my sister-in-law by having us spell out "Marry Me, Leesa" in Christmas lights at the park near my parent's house, I decided I wanted to do something like that, but I decided I wanted to say it in flames.
Imagine it: "Will you marry me?" in glorious flames...Unfortunately, that's a little more dangerous and probably a lot less legal, so I decided to go another route. Roger, my roommate and close frat buddy, wanted to help and so they came up with the idea of using rope lights.
Every year my frat (Xi chapter of Sigma Gamma Chi - LDS Insitute) has a formal dance at the Snow Lodge in Deer Valley. There is excellent food, great atmosphere (although this year they had sewer problems so occasionally you'd get a whiff of raw sewage (*sniff* Mmmmm....), and a beautiful balcony overlooking the base of the slope.
Leading up to this I had told Tiffany that the ring would not be done until Monday the 27th. Her sister and sisters-in-law had told her it might be a good setup or ploy, so I played it out and told her I was really sorry it wouldn't be done until then (which would have been true if that had actually been the case).
After dinner and the announcement of next year's Xi officers (congratulations everyone!), I told her we should go to the balcony and get some fresh air (I had told her previously that I had always wanted to make out on the balcony :o) We proceeded to go outside and just in case she was on to me, I got down on one knee and told her I had to tie my shoe. She was totally clueless. Then as we were walking I could some of the lights and she said Roger was following us with his camera so I asked her, "So you were expecting this?"
"Expecting what?"
I took her to the edge of the balcony where you could see the lights and got on one knee, and asked her to marry me!
She kept saying, "You Bum!" for lying to her. I loved it. She was totally clueless!

I was VICTORIOUS! (She said 'Yes!")

I'll try and post the video later...

Jumping the gun a bit....

I'm not quite a Bollinger yet, but I thought I would get into this blogging world. Many have wanted to know the story of how Bubba fell in love with me and how I let it happen, so here goes. As for the creative, cute blog that everyone covets....that has yet to come. (I have no idea how to work this thing!)

My side of the story...

How we met: I was a ward missionary, and he just got called as ward mission leader. He started sending out emails and I was definitely impressed with the man as he pretty much enhanced the missionary program of our student ward. He assigned companions to go and find less actives each week. He arranged a Preach My Gospel class (and asked me to teach) so we could get the ward excited for missionary work. He planned on 15 minute meetings every week to report the efforts of missionary work. He helped us set goals and see what we could do to achieve them. And most importantly, he invited his neighbor Nicole to church. This guy was incredible....

How we started getting to know one another: Nicole is from China. We became fast BFF's (Best Friends Forever). Bubba had a great appreciation for me as I invited Nicole to activities and befriended her at church. I was just thrilled to have a close friend that I could speak Chinese with! Nicole and I even went with Bubba to a New Year's Eve party at the institute.
Nicole started taking the missionary lessons at Bubba's place, and I was honored to be involved as well. I always thought Bubba was a spiritual giant and cute, but also kind of annoying. He always thought I was cute, but wasn't interested in being anything more than just friends.

The turning point: One day at church Bubba had asked me how things were going. I wasn't very enthused and he asked if there was anything he could do to help. I blurted "not unless you have a cure for cancer..." I filled him in on the sufferings of my daddy. His texts became more frequent after this, and eventually pretty bold as he also let me know he wanted to take me out. I was curious as to why now, but not before. He told me that when I mentioned about my dad, he really wanted to help me and be there for me, and then he realized it was more than that. After that, how could I say no to him?

How we got hooked up: He asked me out (not through text, don't worry) and our first official date was Friday, March 6th. We went to a cheap place for dinner, as he eloquently confessed to me (and yes, I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu, which he was happy to pay for) and we went to laughing stock downtown (improv comedy). In the car he played some awesome music and offered to make me a CD. It was an amazing date, to say the least...

How he reeled me in: The next day I was able to spend time with my family and unfortunately witnessed my daddy take his last breath that night (technically Sunday morning). I texted Bubba to let the Bishop and the ward know. He stopped by later that day to give me the CD he made for me. He was quick to let me know he was willing to help with anything and was a perfect friend for me during the hard and busy times of the planning, viewing and funeral. He got to meet the whole family and they definitely adored him. He just kept reeling me in with his charm, whit, and personality (which I didn't find annoying anymore). Nicole got baptized the day after my daddy's funeral, and Bubba and I have been inseparable since. We have spent every day together and have had quite the quick courtship. He was pretty sure pretty fast, and it only took a day or two for me to wake up and realize the man of my dreams was in front of my face.

Now the sappiness: I am seriously the luckiest girl in the world! He is so good for me in many many ways. Not only the spiritual giant as I mentioned before, but also very patient and loving. He has a lot of love to give and I can't believe I'm the recipient of such love. He is very forgiving, which he will need to be (as he is quickly learning the emotions of a woman!). He is extremely understanding and has a way with words to bring me back down to reality. He is quick to make me giggle, and we really have a blast together. Our goals are a lot of the same and we are extremely looking forward to spending the rest of our lives together. It's great news because I am totally marrying up, but have him believing that he is marrying up as well! We will be sealed for time and eternity in Draper Temple on Friday, August 14th.

Oh, and his name is Christopher. When he was a little boy, he tried to say "baby" and it came out as "bubba". The name has stuck ever since!