Monday, June 4, 2007

Monday Memory - First Date with Hubby


Another fun topic to think about, particularly as we'll be celebrating our 11th anniversary in a week and a half!

I met my would-be hubby in college. Now I need to provide a bit of background on this - I attended LeTourneau University, which as it so happened had an 8:1 ratio of men to women at the time. I did not know this when I chose LU, so was quite stunned to arrive on campus and see six huge guys' dorms, and then the one pitiful women's residence hall. After getting moved in, we had our first meeting with our RA, and I can vividly recall her warning all of us about "swooping." Yes, anyone with two X genes was a hot commodity!

Well, I settled in and soon began dating a guy from Montana, someone I had met briefly before actually coming to LU. We dated for a semester, but both realized that it just wasn't right, so had a very friendly break-up. This had been my first relationship, and I decided that I was in NO hurry to find another boyfriend. While we had been dating, though, I had gotten to know many of the guys from his floor. This group was very tight, almost like a fraternity. I was able to really get to know these guys, which was kind of hard to do in the normal LeTourneau environment, because generally if you exchanged more than ten words with a guy, you were automatically paired off (OK, I'm exaggerating a bit here, but it really did feel that way sometimes!) Over the next year and a half, I got to be pretty good friends with "Chuck" (his nickname, as there were five other guys that had the same first name), but thought he was a bit strange. He was a year older, mechanical engineering major, and had a rep for pranks and blowing things up. Toward the end of my sophomore year, we were talking a lot - hanging out at the table after meals long after everyone else had left. I was thinking that he was interested, and I decided that I'd go out with him if he asked. The school year drew to a close and he never asked me out, but we did exchange addresses. Over the summer, we wrote to one another (I've since discovered I'm the only person he's ever written to!), and even spoke on the phone once as we were preparing to return to school.

So we came back to Texas in the fall of 94. We continued to talk quite a bit, but he still didn't ask me out. Well, about two weeks into the semester, the church I was attending had a "Welcome Back" night for the college students. I didn't have a car, so figured I'd ask him to come with me, with the excuse that I needed a ride. I don't even remember what was on the program that night, because I had decided that we needed to talk, so I was busily plotting out how this was going to take place. After the church event was over, I suggested we go get coffee or something. We ended up going to Olive Garden and ordering cappuccinos. As luck would have it, our waiter was my suite mate's fiancee, and he was rather chatty! I remember being so frustrated, wanting him to leave us alone so I could grill "Chuck" about what exactly what was going on between us. Finally our waiter left, and I flat-out asked him if he'd like to date. At this point, I just wanted to know whether he was interested - I was, but wanted to go into "safe" mode if necessary. Well, he stirred his cappuccino vigorously and then, while still staring at his cup of coffee, muttered that he'd like to go forward. Great! So we'd just had our first date :)

Once we committed to dating, we both knew that this was IT. We had already formed a deep friendship, and started talking about marriage within a few weeks. He officially proposed over Spring Break (in Montana, so he could ask my parents' permission), but we were determined to get our degrees before marrying. We were engaged 15 months, and got marrried six weeks after graduation. As I said earlier, we'll be celebrating our eleventh anniversary before long. I can't imagine sharing my life with anyone else!

Join in the fun at "The Art of Making a Home Joyful"

1 comment:

In Pursuit of His Call said...

Thanks for sharing!!!

DearHubby thought he was the mastermind (that band contest...)behind your getting together and so I set him straight!