It was a Friday afternoon in July, 1993. I was preparing for my first date with the lady that would become my wife. Of course, I did not know that at the time, although if I was to be honest with myself, I just had a feeling that this was something special. That this girl was someone special. That I was a very lucky guy to be going on a date with her.
I found out later that she wasn't even sure we were going on a date. I'm not quite sure how that could have happened. I asked her out with all the suave confidence of a 15 year old pimple-faced boy trying to score a date with the prom queen. When she said yes, I worked hard on controlling my excitement and relief and I'm pretty sure she could see nothing other than a cool, calm, and collected individual. A cool, calm, collected individual that felt like he'd just won the lottery.
Although I was 23 years old, my experience with dating was actually quite limited. I had grown up with a confidence problem and a lot of low self-esteem. I did not have my first date or even kiss a girl until I was already out of high school. Prior to my first date with Rachael, I had really only had one serious relationship. And that had just ended about 3 weeks prior with a dissolution of our engagement.
Thanks to the help of a good friend of mine (Thanks Joan) that had noticed how bummed I had been since the breakup, and who was actually quite good at helping Cupid out once in awhile, Rachael had helped cheer me up by singing 'He'll Do It Again' as a special at the church we both attended. I'm pretty sure there were tears in my eye as I thought about the words of the song as Rachael sang it. I also absolutely know that she caught my eye.
Her singing was beautiful, I had always admired her sweet disposition, and she was gorgeous. Of course, she was also 17, though I did not realize it at the time. She had just graduated high school a month prior, and so I just assumed she was 18. That was not the case, and as it turned out, she was 17 for almost 4 months of our dating.
Anyway, back to the important stuff.
She sang beautifully.
She was sweet.
Oh, and she was absolutely gorgeous.
She had (and has) incredible blue eyes, perfectly highlighted by dazzling blonde hair.
My eye was definitely caught.
A few days later, I worked up the nerve to ask her out. I think what actually came out of my mouth was something along the lines of, "So, umm, maybe sometime, umm, we could, umm, go out together and do something, or something, maybe. Sometime."
But then the strangest thing happened.
She said yes.
The adventure was just beginning.
Little did I know that one of the first stops on our little adventure would be the emergency room of the local hospital.......
(
Click here for the next portion of this story. Also, be sure to check out Rachael's blog for her side of the story.)
http://www.mypoorhusband.blogspot.com/
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