Our First Date in 1988

Our first date on May 19, 1988

May 19 has been a favorite day of mine since 1988. It marks the very first date I had with my husband ... and the start to the most wonderful relationship of my life.

Nate and I have a longer history even than that. We were in the same 1st and 4th grade class at Edison Elementary School and attended the same church throughout childhood. When we search our memories, we don't really remember each other despite these early connections.

Our story really begins in 1988. Interestingly, it begins with my Mimi. My grandmother, Mimi, was a substitute teacher at the high school where Nate attended school. At some point, apparently, she decided that this was the boy for me. Clearly, none of my previous boyfriends or friends who were boys made the grade with her. Unbeknownst to me, she talked to Nate about me ~ even showing him pictures of me!! ~ and let him know she would be inviting me to attend church with her soon. Oh, and would he please be kind enough to say hello? She was sure I would prefer sitting with the youth group and would he mind meeting me and introducing me?

This perfectly innocent grandmother was scheming on my behalf! Fortunately, I did not know this ahead of time or I never would have agreed to go to church with her. Well, I didn't know all this and I did agree to go with her. Imagine my surprise when this very handsome, popular, well-mannered young man approaches me after the church service with an introduction and invitation to meet his friends. At the time, he was dating someone so any romantic notions on my part were stilled before they even began.

Eventually, though, I began integrating into the youth group and attending more events at this church. Nate and I had some great conversations and quickly established an easy, if infrequent, friendship. His dating relationship ended and we began talking even more.

Early during the evening of May 17, Nate stopped by my house (which was just two blocks away from his house). We talked and laughed and had a great time enjoying each other's company. Somewhat impulsively, I told him about an event at my high school happening that Thursday night. The cheerleaders from my high school were being announced in an annual ceremony called "Installation." Band officers, drill team officers, and cheerleaders are 'installed' in a public event. We required an 'escort' to lead us onto stage and would he be interested in escorting me?

He agreed, on one condition ... that I accompany him to his junior prom in a few weeks. Um, okay! It was a fun, happy conversation and one that I'll always remember. A lesser-liked conversation on my part (I still can't believe I did this!) was calling my current date for Installation and telling him that I'd met this boy I really liked and I sort of asked him to go with me and he said yes and I'm really sorry, but would you mind terribly if I brought him ... instead of you? Nice, right? Thankfully, this guy was a nice guy and just a friend and agreed to be an accomplice in my nefarious dealings with other boys ... or something like that. He was great about it and I quickly got over my guilt ... and thoroughly enjoyed my first date with my husband-to-be!

TORCH and ADVON

Photo: ADVON returning from a year-long deployment. Okay, I have to admit that after 15+ years as an Army wife, I don’t know what ‘TORCH’ and ‘ADVON’ stand for. Something about advanced party … but there’s no ‘p’ for ‘party’ … so I just don’t know. I do, however, know what it means. It means your Soldier comes home FIRST!! We’ve never had the honor of either of those designations. My husband somehow manages to get himself into the ‘stay-behind-and-make-sure-all is-well-out-here’ job and comes home late or last. Not that I’m complaining, though, as I am happy these TORCH and ADVON folks get here and get the place ready for everyone else to come home. In a way, it’s reassuring to me. The wheels are turning, the process has begun … our unit actually is coming home and coming home soon! Homecoming becomes reality, not just a long-sought-after dream. It’s good to see our unit patch and our unit Soldiers back at home, on U.S. soil and on our Army installation. It’s heartening to w...

The Change of Command Ceremony

Last Friday, my Family and I participated in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division change of command on Fort Hood, Texas. Hubby became the battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment and joined a wonderful group of "Red Dragon" Soldiers and Families. It's a dream come true for us ... one of those things you hope in the back of your mind you'll get to do one day, but know realistically that the chances are slim you'll get to do it. When I first saw his name on 'the list' that the Army publishes, I was elated for him. No one knows more than I do his passion for the Army and for the Soldiers in it. He is a wonderful leader and cares so much. We both knew that this would be the adventure of a lifetime. We explained this new job to our two boys (ages ten and six) as best we could and they kept saying, "We'll have 500 new friends on Friday!" as their summary of the discussion. =) The ceremony was amazing,...

A Letter to My Cousin and Friend

As I was cleaning out our home office today, I came across an old college notebook from a writing course I had taken at Baylor. Our assignment was to write a letter to someone filled with memories of time spent together. I had chosen to write to my cousin Lori and, although it was a rough draft, I just had to post it. I finished out the last part and laughed out loud at some of the superfun memories with Lori, my cousin and friend. Dear Lori, As I reflect on the time we have spent together, I remember so many wonderful memories with you. Laughter always comes first to mind because we have shared so much of it. We start out giggling over some trivial nothing and soon are rolling in teary-eyed, side-splitting, I-can’t-catch-my-breath laughter. Days later, we will laugh again when one thought triggers another and we think of the same funny thing. After all, we are ‘more funny repeated.’ Our memories together are vast and varied for they have been collecting since, well, basically fr...

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