06/30/87 Meeting Mom & Dad Griffin story

unknown date

I first met mom and dad in June of 1987.  I was 18 at the time and fresh out of high school.  I graduated on Friday and on Saturday was on a plane to Utah to attend BYU.  I didn’t know anyone west of Ohio and Andy was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and take me to BYU.  

    That same day I was invited to attend a family picnic with all the Griffin’s aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents etc.  I was taken in immediately by the whole family.  

    Mom and Dad always treated me special and kind.  

    As Andy and I were dating Mom took me under her wing and treated me like she was my mom.  She was so supportive of our getting married.  She even went so far as to take care of my wedding dress, flowers and food for our reception out here.  I never heard her complain about the added expense and bother.  My parents weren’t supportive and it really helped to have someone who was.  Mom even escorted me through the temple and sat with me as I was married.  She helped me primp and fussed over me like I was her very own daughter.  

    I remember as we were newly married we moved to Logan.  Money was extremely tight as both of us were attending college.  Mom and Dad had us down most every weekend and bought us Godfather’s Pizza and let us do our laundry for no charge.  (Speaking of Pizza, can you pass the parmesan?)   Sometimes we would even find a $20 bill in the ash tray of our car or stuffed in the side of my purse.  Mom was always generous giving us hand-me-down pillows, blankets, kitchen supplies, decorations, etc.   I don’t know if we would have made it without the financial support at that time.

    One bad memory I have is the day I hit mom with the horse shoe.  We were playing a game of horse-shoes – and I was not good at it.  I guess my shoe got carried away and hit mom.  I felt so bad about that.  No one in the family will play horse shoe’s with me now.

    Dad has always been a hardworking busy man.  I remember when I first met him he worked all day at the high school and then taught night school several nights a week.  I even had the pleasure of taking a science class from him.  I still enjoy reminding him that he only gave me an A-.  

    Some of my favorite memories are from when we would go camping together.  That was so enjoyable to be out in nature and have Dad explain all the geography around us.  I loved going on long walks and having mom’s cooking.  I even learned what a barking spider is on our trip up to Idaho, thanks to Dad.  

    I remember how sad we were when you left us in a motel in Moscow, Idaho and went home to Utah.  That was a difficult year for us and we realized how much we loved to be around our parents.  We moved back just 9 months later and have made it a priority to live close by.