Our Story

My friend and I have been exchanging emails for a few weeks. We have an interesting friend story as she and I fought over the same guy in high school. She won. Sort of. Let's just say he wasn't the prince he should have been to have won this beautiful friend's heart. She has been through a lot of hard life as result of "winning" a husband out of that man. Her life is full and rich today but not without battle wounds. We've connected through another friend and Facebook. Since we both decided Facebook was no longer something we wanted to invest in, an email exchange began. We've covered kids, jobs, headaches and life in general but on Friday she asked me to share my love story. I decided it would be fun to post it in this little part of my world. So dear friend, here goes......

When I was a Senior in high school, I worked for Lazarus at the Salem Mall. I had a co-worker who was only a year older than me but was married and had a baby. Her life was chaotic and I felt badly for her. I ended up providing a lot of her transportation and fell in love with her baby. Shortly after we met, her husband left her. She very quickly started dating a really great guy. His name was Greg and I met him the week after I graduated high school and he graduated college. I liked him immediately and wondered why on earth he was with this girl who was a mess of one poor choice after another. He liked me too and tried to set me up with his friend. Bob was nice guy but not meant for me. I eventually lost patience with my friend's on-going self destruction and distanced myself. At that point, I was recruited to be an assistant manager for a Lane Bryant store. I will pause here and tell you that I was not well liked in that role being a size 2 but I made friends among other mall employees and spent my social time with them. One of those new friends was singing Karaoke at Bolt's Sports Bar one night and a group of us were going to support her. As I walked in, Greg and his dad were walking out. Greg and I started talking and his dad left because thank God, they drove separately. As it turns out, Greg had also decided that girlfriend's drama was too much and had also gracefully stepped out of the situation around the same time I had. We both mentioned how much we cared for the baby. We talked for hours and exchanged phone numbers as we parted ways that night. We talked several times that week and had our first date the following weekend in March 1993.

On our first date, Greg picked me up wearing a high and tight hair style and a diamond earring. He had just placed second in a body building competition and my dad was less than thrilled as I walked out the door with him. We went to a comedy club and three weeks later, I knew I would marry him. He teases he was a little slower picking up on it but he also realized we were meant to be together. By our second date, my dad was ready to show Greg his hunting guns and Greg was impressed. I should have known then I would have my hands full but to this day, they are friends and ornery together. My dad kept telling Greg he would sell me for 50 cents and there would be no refunds. So during our ceremony, Greg handed my dad a 50 cent piece. In the receiving line, Dad gave him 5 cents change. Apparently, there was a discount that day. Believe it or not, they both love me.

Greg and I actually planned our engagement. Looking back, I realize I made it way too easy for that man! We used my 20th birthday on October 2, 1993 to officially get engaged. We married the following July. We initially wanted to be married in the fall by candlelight but couldn't find a church willing to work with an evening wedding plan, nor did we want to wait that long. We also wanted to elope in Gatlinburg and to this day, wish we had. We found a beautiful chapel in the hills with a serene creek running by and almost eloped that April. We ultimately decided it would not be wise to start our marriage ticking off my mom who had visions of her daughter walking down the isle in her head. So we humored her and started our marriage a little more traditionally.

Greg's family is strict conservative. My family is not. Greg says we are only a talk show host away from a Jerry Springer episode at most extended family gatherings. He's not exaggerating. That led to the next concern with wedding planning. We opted for a quick, cake only reception to prevent too much mingling before high tailing it out of town the following morning to the big city of Lexington, Kentucky where we ended up with our "honeymoon surprise" because Lexington offered little else to occupy our time.