This is the story to the best of my recollection (its been 19yrs so things get a little fuzzy). I'm sure my wife will set me straight on any gross errors so check for edits:
I first encountered my future bride at a pizza party for our church's youth group. I was in my 3rd year of college, but the singles group was boring so I hung out with the teenagers. I was actually vying fo rthe attentions of another young lady (who was totally ignoring me) when she asked me if I attended the local university. I responded with a brief and annoyed "Yeah, sure, whatever". She then asked me how I got there in the mornings. This was well into the Fall term, so I thought this a really dumb question. I smarted back "I drive". End of conversation, end of party.
We met once again at another church party (Christmas I think) where they played some sort of "find a person who...." game to get everybody to meet one another. What I didn't know was that the whole party was set up to get us together. Didn't work. I was mostly still chasing another girl and she left early.
Fast forward a couple of months. For some reason, I'm hanging out in the church nursery. In walks the most jaw droppingly beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life. She walks straight up to me and starts talking to me. I don't remember if I said anything back. I think I just sat there with my tongue upside down in my mouth.
A little background at this point. About 2yrs prior I had, after an especially painful breakup, prayed that the next girl I dated would be THE one (sorry to bring religion into it for you agnostics, but its part of who I am). Two years without a date was NOT what I had in mind. Anyways, the young lady who had so thoroughly trampled my heart had sent a letter saying she wanted to see me (she lived 500miles away). Iwas leaving right after church to head up there.
So there I was, talking with this glorious apparition of femininity and trying to decide if I should go to see the other on eor not. Well, I decided that since I had already made plans to go, I should. When I arrived, she led me around long enough to buy her an expensive dinner and take in a movie, then tells me she just wants to be friends. What! Oh, wait. Cool! I laid a patch out of her driveway and drove 500 miles straight through to get home.
Due to work and school schedules it took a while for me to get in touch with my future Mrs. I kept calling her house and she was always on her way home or just left. I had finally exhausted all of my ability to talk to her folks and decided I wouldn't call again until I was sure she was home. On eafternoon on the way home from class, I saw what appeared to be her car in front of me. I pulled up next to her to check (ok, it was on a short straightaway of a 2-lane road). Yep it was her. I went on home, waited an appropriate amount of time for her to get home ( we lived about a mile from one another) and called. I wasn't sure she knew who I was, so I talked for a while (long enough for her to make and bake a batch of sugar cookies) before getting around to asking her out, which she knew I was going to do from the beginning (incidently when she accepted, she says that for all my talking she still had no idea who I was. She just wanted to go out and have some fun).
I was 45mins early for our date, and fortunately so was she. We went out for pizza and a movie. I have no idea what we talked about, again I was entranced, but I think she did most of the talking which was fine with me. SHe talked all the way home from the movie and it wasn't until many years later that I finally told her that due to the noise of my car I couln't understand a word she said. But she was lovely, and I felt so comfortable and relaxed with her. We had a long kiss on her doorstep before going to our respective abodes. Then came the part where I almost blew it.
Our date was Friday night. I had class on Saturday. I knew I was in love with her, and I didn't want to risk losing her so I figured I had better pull every trick in the book. I decided to be Mr. Smooth and not call her all day Saturdayso she would have to think about me all day. Then she would really want me on Sunday when I saw her at church. It nearly killed me I wanted to talk to her all night, I hardly slept at all. Meanwhile she was thinking about me alright. Thinking she did something wrong and I didn't like her. She had decided if she didn't see me at church she would just forget about me. Big problem. I was so tired, I overslept. I missed the service and most of Sunday school. I drove, no exaggeration here, over 100mph through our neighborhood to get to the church before Sunday school was over. Everyone was just filing out when I arrived, breathless, in front of the door. She saw me, smiled, and it was on.
We spent almost every free minute together for the next couple of months. We couldn't bear to be apart for even a few minutes. We talked incessantly about everything. We knew we would be married with in a week of our first date. I wanted to wait a couple of years, save some money, maybe get a house. Then I spent a month in Hawaii for internship. A week into it I knew I didn't want to spend another second away from her. It was tempting to propose over the phone, but I managed to wait until I returned. We were married almost exactly a year after our first date (so I could always remember when our anniversary was). We were basically broke, and moved into a ratty apartment and lived happily ever after.
We've been through our ups and downs over the years, but she's stuck by me through all my weirdness and has helped me get along. She's my best friend and the only one I'll ever need.
Last edited by 06xrs on 08 Jan 2006, 4:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
07 Jan 2006, 6:51 pm
