how we met

Maybe this post should be called "how we got together." I think that would be more accurate. See, my husband and I have actually known each other since...kindergarten? If not then, then first grade at the latest. We went to elementary school together, although we went to different high schools. That's probably why I didn't know Darren was joining the National Guard.

All through high school I worked at the bank in my hometown. One day Darren's dad came in and said, out of the blue, "Darren is AIT (Advanced Individual Training; sort of like basic, only a step up) for the summer. If I give you his address, will you write to him?"

It was so random, so out of nowhere, and I stammered out a "sure."

Some time later, I got this:


Well, what's a girl to do? I was afraid Darren's dad would ask me if I ever wrote to him, and you can be darn sure back in those days I didn't disappoint anyone. I remember some of my first letter to Darren. I'm pretty sure I rambled on about the TV show "Friends" for quite a while since I was watching an episode as I wrote. Darren thinks he still has the letter; I'd have to do some digging around at his parent's house, but if I find it and it isn't too embarrassing, maybe I'll put it up here.

In any case, I wrote and he wrote back. All that summer we exchanged letters. We had a disastrous first date (which I should write about some day), reconnected a year later, and got engaged a year after that. And through it all, Darren never realized his dad had pressured me to write that first letter to him.

You can bet I was laughing my butt off the day he found out.

So thanks, Pat, for pushing me towards a better future than I ever could have imagined. I couldn't ask for greater in-laws. Love to you both.