23 Years Ago

I know that today marks 19 years since the terrible 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation. We must never forget that terrible day, or to honor those who were lost. 9/11 memorials will be all over the media today, and rightly so. But I want take you back four more years further in the past to a day that is very significant in our lives.

23 years ago today, Terry and I had our first official date. We had been casual acquaintances for a long time, since the business she ran advertised in my newspaper for many years, and I always admired and respected her. My marriage had ended and I swore I was never going to get involved with anybody again, telling all my friends that I had been shot twice and married twice, and you can get over shot quicker than you can married. As for Terry, she always wore a big ring on her finger and I just assumed she was married. Well, as it turned out I was wrong on all counts.

I have written about how it all began before, and you can read about it at this link from a blog a couple of years ago. Over time our business acquaintance and a casual friendship began to look like there might be more to it, so I asked her if she would like to go to a movie. Nobody was more surprised than me when she said yes. How could the prettiest woman in Show Low, Arizona, be willing to spend an evening with me?

Over the years I’ve done a lot of things, including being a soldier, being shot at, jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, and winnning my first and only stock car race. But none of that scared me more than the drive to Terry’s house to pick her up that evening. So much so that I had to stop at my secretary’s house, halfway there, to throw up. Seriously, I was that nervous.

We went to a movie, and the instant comfort we had always had with each other was there. So much so that we spent most of the movie scrunched down in our seats, our heads together whispering back and forth to each other. I am sure we must have bothered the people around us to no end.

After the movie, we went to get a bite to eat, and we ended up sitting in the restaurant and talking until dawn. We were both shocked at how fast the time had gone.

Two weeks later we had our second date, and it never ended. We have been together ever since, only spending two or three nights apart, when Terry was in the hospital with radiation implants during her cancer ordeal and they would not allow me to stay with her. And every day just keeps getting better. I love you, Terry.

Be sure to enter our latest Free Drawing, and we’ve got another great prize this week. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Dead Letter by Catherine Bender. The first book in the M. Falcon mystery series, it’s the tale of amateur detectives in their golden years with a treasure trove of unexpected skills and unconventional tactics, including a sweet wheelchair bound grandmother type who is a master computer hacker, a semi-retired actress who seizes the opportunity to live her dream of being a super spy, a homeless veteran, and other blue hairs who are not content to rock their lives away in boring retirement. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.