How I Met Your Father....

No, this post isn't about the T.V. show. 
That actually is called, "How I Met Your Mother." 
But you might say it is the story of how my hubby and I met.(I never have written our story out before, so I decided this is a great time to do it, with Valentines Day around the corner. Plus our 26th wedding anniversary is Jan. 31st. Maybe our son or daughter will keep this story to tell their kids someday.

I think our story is a little bit unconventional, at least for someone like me. Today, it's a little bit less exciting, with the internet and how technology has come so far. But for the 80's, it was unique. I also believe there were some events that made it obvious that God had His hand in bringing us together. 

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It was my last semester of senior year of college.(Around March of 1984, I think.) My little sister, who at the time was working in our hometown, was living at home, as was I, to save money. We shared a lot with each other about our relationships. A few times she had helped me find a date at the last minute or even helped me to get bold enough to ask a guy I liked out. (I was a little shy back then. But she definitely wasn't.) 

There was a free newspaper (called "The Paper". Very original, huh!) The Paper had a section that advertised singles wanting to meet other singles. I guess you could say it was what people did before internet dating sites became popular, let alone computers. I don't even think the internet was discovered yet. (Yikes, I'm getting old!) My sister would write into the singles ads to meet guys, as well as answer ads guys posted. One day, we were just looking through the ads for her to see if there was any that looked interesting, when I came across one that caught my eye. I wasn't looking for someone to date, but for some reason, his ad struck me. My sister said, "Why not just write to him and see if he is interested." I was like, "No way!" That just wasn't my style. But my sister was pretty persistent and eventually she talked me into it, but only if she would help me write the letter. How the service worked was that a person would respond to an ad (which had a specific number) and send it into the paper, who then sent the letter to the corresponding person who wrote the ad. Then that person had the option of responding or not responding. I really didn't expect to hear from him and put it behind me. But about a week later, I got a phone call from a guy named "Ken".  I was so shocked that I almost didn't know what to say, but I must have somehow impressed him over the phone, because we decided to meet the following week. I was so flustered that I forgot to even get his phone number. After thinking about our plan to meet in a parking lot in his home town 30 miles away, at night, alone, I started to panic. I didn't even know what he looked like (so it was a blind date.). And I couldn't call him to cancel, since I didn't get his number. My sister, once again, came to my rescue. She had been going out with a guy, also from the singles ads, and said they would just come along and if this guy didn't like it, we would just leave.  I was quite impressed, for some reason, when "Ken" told me to look for a blue Camero. (Oooh, a sportscar!)

The evening finally arrived. My sister, her date, and I headed for Warsaw to get to the meeting place. We got there a little early and kept our eyes pealed for a shiny blue Camero. All of a sudden, a rusty old, loud Camero pulled into the lot. Oh, boy! That wasn't what I expected. He got out of the car and we did introductions. Obviously, he was a little set back to see two other people with me, but later said he understood my cautiousness. I thought right off, this guy is very cute! Tall, with dark, curly hair! He worked out regularly and was pretty buff, too! We had dinner at the Pizza Hut across the street. The conversation between us all went really well, so we decided to go bowling, after having eaten. The bowling alley was down the street a little, so Ken offered to drive us all over in his car. I didn't realize it at the time, but my poor hubby-to-be wasn't the richest guy on the block. The whole floorboard of the back seat had holes in it and we got what I would describe as free air conditioning. Bowling was fun, too. In fact, I got the best score ever and haven't been able to top it since.(149, if you must know. I'm not that great a bowler.) By the end of the date, I'd decided I really liked this guy and would enjoy seeing him again.

The following week, Ken called me. We talked for awhile. The conversation seemed to go well. Then, right before saying goodbye, he said that he had something to tell me. Oh, no! What could it be? "Well," he kind of mumbled, "I just felt I should tell you that I'm divorced." Oh! I  swallowed, O.K. "And something else. I have two kids." I was so flabbergasted that no words came out. "Is that O.K. with you? If not, I understand." He failed to mention this in his single's ad. (This was God intervention #1, for I know I would have never responded to the ad if I had known he was divorced, with kids). Well, he was so nice, I just couldn't  bring myself to tell him that I didn't date divorcees with kids! So, I said, "No, that's fine." We decided to go out again, and the relationship began.

About 5 months later, I was a college graduate, deciding what I wanted to do with my life. Our church(denomination) had a short-term(up to 1 year) volunteer mission program for young people in the U.S. I had considered missions and wanted to try it. There was a need for teacher's aids working with deaf and hearing impaired kids in Ohio. Since I had taken some sign language classes in college, I felt this was a perfect match for me. My relationship with Ken had kind of come to a stand-still. He wasn't really ready to marry again yet and I wanted to go on the missions in Ohio. So we parted ways as friends. In reality we didn't even stay in touch with each other after I left for Ohio. 

Fast forward to 1 1/2 years later. I moved back home, after completing my time in missions and spending some extra time working in Ohio. A week after my move home, Ken called me just to see how I was doing. Again, I was floored! "How did you know that I just moved back here?" He replied, "I didn't. I just happened to think about you and thought I would see what you were up to." (To me, this was God Intervention #2. He brought us back together just at the right time.) We started dating again...well, it took a little work at first. I was recovering still from a broken relationship with a guy I dated while in Ohio. I actually almost ruined our chance to get together again, when I kind of was rude and abrupt on our first time meeting again. But, thankfully, Ken was willing to give me another chance to see if I was just having a rough night. I made sure I was a lot nicer after that. I also had to get over the shock that he really didn't have naturally curly hair. The first time we dated, he had a permanent (Definitely an 80s thing). When we met the second time, no curls were on his head! 

A year later we were married and the rest is history!

In 2012, we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary by renewing our vows on a beach in South Carolina!

So many wonderful memories! So many amazing times with the man I love!

Linking over at these blog parties:

Tuesday Talk(Our Life on a Budget)
Soli Deo Gloria Party (Finding Heaven)
Gratituesday (Heavenly Homemakers)

Titus 2sdays (Time Warp Wife)

Teach Me Tuesdays(Growing Home)
Walk With Him Wednesday (A Holy Experience) 
Winsome Wednesday(My Daily Walk in His Grace) 
Why I Love My Husband (Happy Wives Club)
  Sharing His Beauty (Beauty In His Grip)