Happy Birthday Joseph

You all recall the story of Princess Eliza, right?  Well, guess who's having a birthday?  Her handsome prince, Joseph Erickson aka Joe, Joey, Joseph and the coat of many colors, Saint Joseph, and Joseph-potamus to name a few.  We didn't even know about him and his wonderfulness, but while Eliza was growing up, somewhere in the west was a little child being raised by his very good family.

So, Princess Eliza was sent to college with some sage advice from her family:  Eat healthy food and exercise, don't have dessert at every meal, study hard, play sports when you can, read your scriptures, hike the Y, sing in the tunnel, watch Brigham Young do the funky chicken, see the lights on temple square, and don't  date return missionaries your freshman year.  All was going according to plans except the dating thing.  She would tell me what boys had asked her on dates, and I would give my opinion freely.  She said a boy from her dance class had asked her to go to a dance lab with him.  I started going on about being careful about strangers, did he have any references?  just because he's at BYU doesn't mean he's safe blah, blah, blah.  She reassured me that he seemed pretty safe, I mean, what kind of criminal works at the Mission Training Center for their job and volunteers at the temple in their free time? "Okay fine, but be careful.  Go in groups...find out more about his family..."

Time went on and she casually passed on more information:  "Well, we went to his aunt's house to play with his nieces and nephew, and okay, he's adorable."  "We went to a fellow missionary's wedding reception (Joseph and another friend were singing)  and a girl took me aside and  said, 'I don't know what your relationsip with Joseph is, but he was a really good missionary and leader on his mission."  "He taught me how to milk a cow.  His Grandpa was a dairy farmer, and he worked there in the summer."    "He's a good cook.  He worked at a resort."  "We were in DanceSport together and made it to the 4th level of the Cha-Cha, but he had to go take his Czech language test."  "We went horseback riding." "We were supposed to do something in the afternoon, but we went later because he was fixing his car."  "He's in the honors program." "He plays the piano." "I'm on Joseph's intramural wallyball, volleyball, innertube water polo... team." "He wants to do service for our date."   "We just gave blood."  "He always opens my doors for me."  "He's the first boy, fifth child, in a family of 10."  "Everything's more fun with Joseph."  "He's good at life." 

"But, I'm not getting married."

And then came the summer.  Joseph and his brother drove Eliza home to Atlanta on their way to Washington DC.  We were all anxious to meet this person who Eliza was not going to marry.  We figured that he would put his best foot forward, but what an impressive foot it was.  He cooked, cleaned, played with the kids, stacked wood, played a mean game of dodgeball and was good company for everyone.  It was clear these boys had been raised right.  Then he went to his summer job of selling pest control and left Eliza home with her family, free from having to make any hard decisions.  Her plan was to keep him safely at arm's length until she felt inclined to do anything scary.

Well, Joseph had some tricks up his sleeve.  He started a game.  Every time either of them left a message on the other's phone they got a point.  The benefits of this were two-fold, Eliza started carrying and answering her phone, and the loser had to make a visit to the other person.  The phone calls started coming at more and more inopportune times.  There were calls early in the morning, calls after the phone went to messages, and the very unethical calls during church.  As it came closer to the appointed deadline Joseph revealed his plan to win so Eliza had to visit him and then he could surprise her with a visit afterwards.  He tried to enlist my help. I declined, but Rebecca was game.  On the final night he convinced Rebecca to hide Eliza's phone.  His unanswered calls tipped the scales and he claimed victory.  This might have been a bit counterproductive as Eliza was infuriated and ready to kill some people.  He he.

His next major strategy was the surprise visit.  The Stoker house always celebrates Fruit Punch Day on June 17, and what better way to celebrate?  Joseph had met our friends, the Sultans, on his first visit, so he enlisted their help for transportation from the airport.  Now he had to get into the house.  It was late in the evening so he called Eliza en route to make sure she was still awake.  She talked for a bit and then tried to end the call.  He desperately kept her on the line with conversation of weather, etc.  When he was at the house he finally convinced her to look outside, and Surprise!

Eliza was beginning to see where this was going, and put up a fight.  "He wants a dog.  I don't want a

dog."  "He wants to name his children weird names."  "He won't listen to me when I give him driving directions."  In the meantime, we (her family)  were getting more and more impressed with and attached to this young man.  In her final effort she cried, "Where is my family telling me I'm too young to get married?"  We all just looked at each other, "Sorry. We're team Joseph."

It was clear that she had a decision to make.  At one point she even said, "Nope, nope, nope."  They took a break.  That's when she experienced the longest week of her life and decided that she was interested in moving forward.  

He warned her that he would probably propose within a month of returning to school.  This gave her a chance to decide and prepare.  One of the objections to marriage she had mentioned was that she hadn't been skydiving.  Skydiving was on her bucket list and she had to do it before she got married.  It is dangerous and it would be dumb to take the risk if you had a spouse or children.  That gave him the perfect idea.  One Saturday in Sept.  (the 17th to be exact.)  they went skydiving.  Since it was their first time, they each jumped with an instructor.  Joseph went first.  After Eliza jumped out of the plane and was plummeting to the earth she saw a banner that said, "Will you marry me?"  Her instructor asked, "Is that for you?"  She responded guiltily, "Maybe." Her prince was there with roses and ring.  "Well, what do you say?" he asked. "Yes!"  Aww.

And so it was that Eliza Stoker became Eliza Erickson, and we are very happily related to this sweet boy who's heart is full of the pure love of Christ and who still cooks and cleans, and plays and is excellent company for everyone in our family.