On a rainy morning, during March of 1979, I met my present day husband. Not in any normal way did we meet. I was driving to work at Kiel’s Donut Shop, during rush hour traffic, in the pouring rain. Suddenly someone darted out toward my car from the berm. I swerved to miss hitting him, but he hit my car slightly, not enough to hurt him that’s for sure. I was shaken terribly, and went on to work. A short time later, this young man in a long rain duster type coat, came in and started to berate me for hitting him. I pointed out to him, first that he hit me, and secondly that he was dripping on my freshly cleaned glass display case. I handed him paper towels and Windex, and told him to clean up his mess. To my surprise, he did, but he also asked me out to dinner for that evening. To my surprise again, I accepted.
Fate had been trying to put the two of us together for months, and we both had been balking at the interference. One of my co-workers had been telling me how there was this guy with blue eyes, that would be perfect for me, I wasn’t interested. Another friend of mine had arranged a canoe trip for couples, and I had declined, because I was not dating anyone at the time. He of course had a friend, who also was not dating anyone, that I could share a canoe with. I declined again. A customer who came in every day tried to fix me up with his brother, again I declined. Meanwhile on Dale’s side; his brother (my customer) bet him he could not get a date with the waitress at the donut shop.
Twenty eight days later, we married. We actually were to have been married the day before, April 1, but Jim Mawhinney was to perform the wedding, and was a childhood friend of Dale’s. When he was asked to do the wedding on the 1st and on a fishing pier, he was afraid that this was an elaborate April Fool’s joke. He stated he would marry us, on the second not the first. So April 2nd 1979 became my wedding day. Back then, people did not get married anywhere but at a JP or at a church, it was pretty much unheard of to be married on a fishing pier.
We had a storm front move through, and the afternoon was rainy. Just in time for the ceremony, the weather cleared, and we had this awesome sunset of reds and purples. Two fishermen fishing off of the pier at Glade Run Lake, took their rods out of the water as a respectful gesture. I always joked that they threw rubber worms instead of rice. My best friend; Leslie, and Dale’s best friend; Andy served as our maid of honor and best man.
We have had our challenges, our ups and downs, our good times and bad, both richer and poorer, and sickness and health. We are still together, after 33 years. Many marriages would have broken under some of the stresses we experienced, but it made us stronger and tighter. Love will keep you together!
This year for our 33rd anniversary, we embarked on a road trip to Florida and Alabama. Together we hunted for turkeys, hogs and coyotes. The couple that hunts together, stays together!
huntingmotherearth 