Let's Start at the Very Beginning

Well, in any story, it's generally best to start at the beginning. If we're going to chronicle the stories of our little Stremel family, we should probably chronicle how we began. (And why we will always be loyal to Southwest Airlines!)

It was a dark and stormy night. Literally. Amanda was flying up to Utah to visit her friends Mark and Corinne Fugal, connecting through Las Vegas, and Jason was headed out to Vegas to spend the weekend with friends. It was a last minute trip for both, with tickets booked only the day before, and in an interesting set of coincidences, there was bad weather in ALL of the cities involved--Tucson, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. As a result, the flight was delayed for hours.

After we boarded the plane late, Jason likes to say that he was trying to sleep and Amanda wouldn't stop talking to him, but we'll let you decide how likely that was. Let the record show that he was leaning around the poor man in the seat between them to talk to her. Sleeping, not so much. Then we were asked to deplane as the flight was further delayed. We spent hours chatting and sat together once the flight finally left Tucson. Jason asked for Amanda's number when he walked her to her connecting gate in Las Vegas; clearly the lack of sleep hadn't interfered with his skills. He followed up with texts that weekend, and a call a few days later. You've got to love a man who calls when he says he will....