VALENTINE'S DAY - Part 2

Photo from our wedding, September 9, 1972

We just got back from our dinner. We had tossed salad, pork loin in a delicious sauce, chicken with a cream sauce, seasoned potato chunks, green beans, cooked apples, and homemade bread. For dessert we had red velvet cake, chocolate cake and banana pudding. Everything was delicious. We probably had about 45 people this year. It was down a little because several of the couples are out of town. Some are in Florida for the winter and some are on a cruise. After dinner our pastor sang a few songs. He has a wonderful voice. And then a few people shared how they had met. I got to thinking about when we first met. I was a sophomore in college at the time and Randy was working as a mechanic at a car dealership. The first time we met, I was working at the student center (what is now called DUC). I was actually working a friend's shift. She had been assigned every Friday night to work and I felt sorry for her, so I switched with her so she only had to work every other Friday night. Randy had gone up there to see her because he thought she was working that night. It's a coincidence, but their last names were the same. No relationship. He tried to convince me that he was her brother, not knowing how well I knew her. I knew her brother and I knew he wasn't him. We talked for a while but nothing came of it. Then a month or so later I was with another friend and we were just out cruising. We were at a Jerry's where you parked and gave your order over a speaker and then they brought your food out on a tray. We had stopped there to talk another friend who was a friend of Randy. We got to talking and he offered me a ride in his new red Fiat convertible. Well, I was young and trusting and off we went. He finally asked me out on an official date a couple of weeks later. We went to see The Carpenters in concert at Western. It was wonderful.

My parents had moved to Tennessee at the beginning of my sophomore year so I spent a lot of weekends down there. A week or so later I had gone down for the weekend and my mom needed something from the grocery so I went to get it for her. When I got home, there was a red convertible in the driveway. I couldn't believe that he had driven down to see me since I was just there for the weekend. My parents were really surprised when he showed up too! It was a whirlwind romance. We met in March and were married in September. That was 36 years ago and we're still together - till death do us part.