I met my wife on October 3, 1998, and the circumstances that led
up to our first date ... well, you may not believe. Jen is a longtime friend of my wife, Cat. In February of 1998, eight months earlier, I had met Jen and we became friends, as well. During that same period of time, I had actually spoken to Cat’s older sister, Cel. And, (snicker, snicker) Cel, being as friendly as she is, invited me, a perfect stranger, over to their house for a party, but I didn’t feel comfortable accepting and I found out later that Jen was in the background, waving to Cel and telling her “NO! NO! NO!” or something like that! If I had accepted and met all of them, including Cat, it would have been premature. God had other plans. Thank God!!! =) Eight months passed. From out of the pouring rain, on Saturday, October 3, 1998, I ran through the doors of a church, where my close friend, and ex-girlfriend, Joy, was about to marry a great guy named Brian. After all of the crazy, unbeknownst to me, conversation that had happened during Joy’s and Brian’s wedding, I didn’t know that some MAJOR wheels were beginning to turn in motion; about to change the course of my life FOREVER! An amazing group of friends started to learn about me. At that time, I had no idea who they were and for a short period of time, I became the hottest subject of gossip! Shhhh … Please refer to my blog for #039 for some details about that Wonderful day, October 3, 1998. Let’s refer to my wife, Cat, as Catherine, for the sake of this blog, so I can distinguish between Catherine, the woman I met in 1998, and Cat, my wife. Eight days of fretting passed for Catherine before she gave Jen permission to give me her phone number on October 11, 1998. Joy and Jen were conspiring to set me up with Catherine. I was stunned by Jen’s offer about a phone number from a woman at the wedding who I had danced with for a short period of time. I remembered this woman, whose name was Catherine, as being a beautiful woman standing at a table in the narthex of the church, though I was also a bit perplexed because she DIDN’T want to talk to me, though she did briefly dance with me during the reception. Long story short, and meant for another blog, it turns out that Catherine was so stunned to see me walk through the doors of the church because she had been infatuated with me for 10 years. I know that it sounds boastful, especially coming from my own blog, and I’m still stifled by the details of her infatuation, but Cat claims that her “10 year crush” on me was very real. Cat’s sis and bro WILL attest to the facts! Again, another long story made short is the fact that I served as a lay minister for those 10 years that she had a crush on me because, every Sunday, when she attended Mass with her family, her attention was focused on me instead of focusing her attention on prayers. I still have a very difficult time believing her, but all of this leads to an even more remarkable long story made short, YET AGAIN, because our relationship actually started in 1977, when our two dads met for the very first time, and became friends!!!!!!! Our families became intertwined for two reasons. My grandma became very close friends with relatives of Catherine! My dad developed his friendship with Catherine’s dad at their mutual workplace! In a romantic sense of our story, our romance actually began 34 years ago!!! Oh boy, I have so many videos to make if I’m going to be able to go in depth about all of these “long stories made short”!!! LOL! My wife and I are continually blown away by these chains of events that eventually brought us together. We could have met each other at any time, for many reasons, between 1977 and 1998, but I know that I wasn’t ready to meet her until the very moment that we actually spoke to one another for the very first time. Our entire lives were being molded for that day of destiny between Catherine and me. Like a fool, I played the dating game … my wife always shakes her head and tells me that I wasted three days of our lives together. On the third day, after I had received her phone number, I made the call. I had been advised that I didn’t want to appear desperate and call immediately, but it turns out that those game rules ARE bogus! That was invaluable time that we’ll NEVER get back! I called Catherine on Tuesday, October 13, 1998, and we planned our first date. Catherine didn’t want to have a dinner date. So, on Saturday, October 17, 1998, I picked her up and we shared three hours at a very popular dessert café. As for the details, for our first date, I’ll have to save those memories for another blog. “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop” is perfect for reflecting about our first date. The only difference is that I already knew … no question whatsoever … this is for another Grand year of Blissful Love with you, my love, as you turn 21 years old, all over again. From Wikipedia: “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop” is a song composed and written by Landon Pigg.
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