I grew up in an Army town and around Soldiers. I knew that I would never date a Soldier except to show them the town as a favor for friends. God had other plans for me...obviously. Thanksgiving Day 1989 was the first day of the rest of my life. I know, cliche but seriously that is how it was. I had two Soldiers that lived next door to me and we had become friends..that was it, nothing more. On that special day, one of them came over and asked me to come meet his friend. I walked in and I was hooked like big catfish on a line. Now, this guy was not drop-dead gorgeous or tall, dark, and handsome. The type of guy that normally caught my eye. Nope! This guy was a cute, short, stocky guy with an infectious smile that showed off the adorable gap between his two front teeth.
We watched football for a few hours and talked and kind of got to know one another. We flirted a little but nothing serious, heck I don't even think that I knew I was even flirting. Later that night, he told me I was boring because I wasn't that type of girl. Oh well, I thought and walked home.
The next day, I kept thinking about what he had called me. For some reason, his comment bothered me and I knew I was boring. I was the stereotypical nerd. (I even had thick glasses that I wore at home lol) When my neighbor came over to watch a movie with me, he asked if I wanted to go with him the next day. He had some errands to run and had to check in at work. It was a Saturday, I was off and had nothing to do so what the heck. Little did I know that those two guys had set me up. Yep! I was set up like a row of dominoes waiting to be knocked down.
So Saturday rolled around and off we went. He had to check in at work, so that is where we went. I went in with him since he had to do some stuff too. When I got inside, I saw Him. I was not excited about seeing him especially since I had lost sleep over what that jerk said. He smiled that adorable smile and said Hi and that haze came over me again. What the heck? Long story short... I know too late, he gave me a tour of the War Room. He worked at the Division Headquarters so he showed me around. He didn't know it but that was the way to this nerd's heart. This self-proclaimed geek was in heaven. A room that had seen a lot of history and I was hooked again. After an hour or more, I honestly don't know how long we were in there, I realized that my neighbor was gone. That jerk had left me there!
Eventually, I got my ride home by the one who called me boring. Five minutes into the ride, he reached over and grabbed my hand. Then sweetly asked if I minded. Hmmm, all I could tell him was no. Heck if I had minded he dang sure wouldn't be holding my hand. Five minutes later, he pulled up in front of my house. Got out and came around to open my door. Remember, he was from the south so manners were expected and very much appreciated. He walked me to the door, grabbed my hands and gave me the sweetest kiss. Again, he asked if I minded and of course I told him no. And there began the pitter-patter of my heart. Three days later, he told me he was going to marry me and I laughed at him. A full belly laugh. A roll on the floor with tears streaming down my face laugh. I stopped laughing five months later when I met at the end of the aisle in the same church that my Mom and Dad had been married in. Ah, the beginning of our journey, our roller coaster ride. It has been full of ups and downs and ins and outs and several loop-de-loops and oh what a ride! Fast forward several years and here we are. Still on our crazy Army life journey, loving every minute of it with the exceptions of deployments, TDY trips, and the field problems but hey that is what I signed up for after all.
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