Laurie in CA (no blog link but one of my sweetest friends) asked:
How old were you when you met John and how did you two meet? Share a few details with those of us who do not know you personally.
It made me realize that I've never shared this story with you all. I love me a good love story, evidenced by the fact that I'm closely following the sage of Ree's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels epic over at Pioneer Woman :)
I can't guarantee anything like her story, but this one's all mine! and I'm keeping it :)
I was 22 when we met. He was 27.
I had gone to Bible college, and was working full time as "Miss Big Buns" (no reference to my hips, at the time, thankyouverymuch)or the head waitress at Bob's Big Boy in my home town. For those of you not familiar with Bob's, or Shoney's as it's called in the South, it was THE place to hang out during high school. This is where we went after football games and dances for the best double decker burgers and shakes made.
Being "the place" to hang out, I had alot of regular customers from teenage to the elderly that came in regularly. I knew their orders by heart, and we were friends. There was a particular group of kids that worked for a local family owned grocery chain up the road. they came is after work most nights to hang out and relax. since I worked swings (5p-2a), we;d all kindof hangout together til closing.
They had just gotten a new night manager, and came up with the brilliant idea that we should meet. So, they convinced him to come in to "celebrate" his promotion.
That man had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen.
I was toast.
He was shy, didn't talk much and could barely order a cup of coffee, he was so quiet. I flitted around the table refilling drinks and laughing with the group, but I was incredibly aware of every move i made and that fact that I was talking way. too. much.
When the night was done, they all left and I spent the next hour or two closing up. but my mind was racing with thoughts of this new guy I had just met.
Over the next couple weeks, when we needed something from the store for the restaurant, I Was the first to volunteer to run up and get it from his store. He worked the same hours I did, and it gave me a chance to be seen.
It worked! he started coming in for coffee after his shifts and we'd hang out at the counter together until 2 when I got off.
My best friend, Suzanne, got married in May 1987 and I was her Maid of Honor. She knew how I felt about John, so at the reception she took dead aim at me during the bouquet toss. She was determined to give me the courage to ask him out on an official date.
So, after the reception, dressed in my wedding garb and bouquet in hand I drove off to his work and asked him out. I had never done that before in my life, and was petrified. he was sweet enough to say yes, and we had our first official date that night at his favorite all night truck stop cafe. We shared a chicken quesadilla, and got stared out by the trucking community in the dim lights. We talked to 5 in the morning about everything.
Over the next two and a half years we dated, we spent most of that time in the air. John was a pilot, and working on getting his various ratings. Our first trip was a short one, but started with me in full migraine mode. I decided to take some Tylenol before we left to help take off the edge, and ended up falling asleep the moment we were in the air. I slept the entire trip there, woke up when we landed then promptly fell asleep on the return flight as soon as we took off again.
Great first impression, don't you think?
We were engaged rather quickly, about 3 months after we met. Both of us had a lot of growing up to do, and our engagement was not without it's struggles. We set and moved the date twice, but determined to move forward. The biggest issue came two days before the wedding when John called everything off. I was standing at a payphone after picking up my "going away" dress, and in tears.
We spent hours at the lake talking that night, trying to sort through the things that were keeping him from feeling ready. By the end of the night, we were back on track and ready to go.
We decided to hold our rehearsal dinner at Bob's. On a Friday night. John's parents had offered to pay for the rehearsal dinner, and his mom had wanted to give her son a fitting send-off at a well known French restaurant outside of town. Being the son of a well-respected Chief Of staff at the largest hospital in Los Angeles, John's entire upbringing had been about being in the right place, with the right people, blah blah blah. We really didn't want anything huge, or spectacular. we had a large wedding party and wanted everyone to just have fun. We had already made the decision not to have a full sit down dinner for 250 at the reception, and this just added to the pre-wedding stress.
John's mom finally gave in, and when we arrived at the diner and went back to the reserved space, we discovered she had transformed the room with linens, crystal and silver. Each table had a beautiful flower arrangement. Everyone ordered from the standard Bob's menu, and when it was served the food arrived on china settings. It. was. awesome.
Our wedding was beautiful. We were married by a family friend who pastored a small church in the canyon. The chapel was small, and held about 250. it sat on the grounds of an old beer gardens that the church had converted to a recreation grounds. there was hundreds of ancient oak trees, all nestled in a small valley.
It was an evening wedding on February 10th, 1990. The air was crisp and clear. I was attended by 5 of my closest friends, all draped in a deep royal purple. Our chapel was decked in white tulle and tulips, shaded in blues, white, pink and purple. It was exactly what I had dreamed of.
My dress was huge, off the shoulder with a big, puffy satin skirt. My mom had detailed the lace with beading and soft purple flowers and ribbons. I had dreamed of watching my own daughter walk down the aisle in my dress, but an unscrupulous dry cleaner lost my dress. So, I only have the pictures to remember it by.
The ceremony was simple and we took traditional vows. The only glitch came after we had knelt for a blessing from my dad. Wearing an off shoulder dress, and kneeling can be dangerous, ahem. Fortunately, I had my back to the crowd as I fell out of the top. After some quick adjustments, I was on my feet again, with everything tucked back in where it belonged.
Our reception was held at the country club on the other side of town.
We arrived after all the guests, and were greeted at the door with the news that the caterers had delivered the wrong party and we had no food for the guests. They had delivered enough 25, and we had 250. Some frineds of my moms took charge and ran across the street to the pizza place and service deli and loaded up all the deli food and pizza they could get there hands on. Classy, but it worked!
We had chosen to not serve alcohol at the reception, due to some family dynamics, and so about 30 minutes into the reception John's parents took all their friends and left to fo back to their house. We made the decision to just enjoy the night.
There were good friends, dancing and we partied til the wee hours.
For our first night, we had gotten a bridal package at a hotel on the coast we had been wanting to stay at. We arrived about 4am and staggered into the lobby. Once we got our room key, we made it to the room and I spent about half an hour in the hot shower "melting" my hair. My headpiece had been large enough to require quite a bit of support and padding from my long hair. And about 5 cans of Shaper hairspray. After the shower, I threw on my sweats and crashed into bed next to John. Neither of us even touched the hot chocolate chip cookies that had been waiting for us from the hotel. That, my frineds, is tired.
It was a highly romantic first night.
My grandparents had come in for the wedding and were going to go on vacation with my folks afterwards. So, they met up with us at the hotel the next morning. We all had breakfast together, and then went out separate ways. I was so thrilled for this time, especially looking back. Things had been so crazy before the wedding and I didn't get to spend that much quality time with them. Not too long after they went home to Memphis, my grandpa went in to the hospital with congestive heart failure and passed away.
John and I spent our honeymoon in Lake Tahoe, walking through the casinos and eating out way through the buffets. We took lots of long drives through the mountains and walked along the lake. We had to cut it short when the area was hit the largest snowstorm in history! We literally grabbed our stuff and bugged out in record time, nearly getting caught in the pass. We were in his new 1990 TransAm and it was not exactly known for it's 4x4 capabilities! We arrived home to our little house in the mountains about 3am, to find the pipes frozen and the heater out. We just cuddled in and made the best of things.
We will celebrate our 18th anniversary in just a couple of weeks.
There have been alot of really rough times, and alot of really great times. We are different people in so many ways that we were then. Older, wiser, more determined, more committed. We've learned that love in not always the hearts and flowers, but it's the small things.
I can't think of anyone else I would want to walk through my life with.
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