Memory Lane--Meeting Mr. Right

I am joining my dear friend Kay for Memory Lane!  Kay is a fantastic friend, have I ever told y'all that? She really is. She understands me...she is a fellow Mommy (with multiple children), she is a fellow military wife, she has done the married to the man in grad school bit. The only thing Kay doesn't understand about me is my love of shopping and all things pink. (Kay, I am wearing a Lilly Pulitzer pink shirt today!) Kay and I can talk about anything and everything. We used to do that over coffee (she has one of those fancy coffee machines that makes fantabulous coffees), but now it is more by text and email. Sometimes we talk kids, sometimes we talk theology, sometimes we talk exercise, you name it. She even patiently listens when I prattle on about clothes and I pretend to know what she is talking about when she raves about the engine specifics in some car that drove by. However, I was a poor friend this week...I let myself get completely wrapped up in my own life and forgot Kay's birthday! So, I am terribly late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAY!! One of these day's I am going to do Memory Lane on how I met Kay. Now you've been warned.

Today, I would like to tell the story of how I met Man O Mine. Today is Man O Mine's birthday! I love birthdays, anyone's birthday, so I am more enthusiastic over his birthday than he is.


Man O Mine and I met way back in 1996. I was a struggling college freshman. When I say struggling, I mean it. I was completely and totally confused. I had not made the wisest choices in boyfriends in the years leading up to meeting him. Okay, let's be honest here. I made some bad decisions. I was also struggling with what I wanted to be. I entered college completely sure of myself. I knew what I wanted to be. Then reality hit me. I didn't agree with what I was taught. I could not stand most of my peers, all they seemed to care about was who drunk the most and who slept with who last weekend. Now I was no prude, but it was getting old really fast. Then I ran into two of my old mentors from High School. They were the ones I wanted to be like, that I wanted to follow...and they both encouraged me to look into another field. They told me they knew I could do it, but with the changes in the profession they were both miserable and wanted me to consider finding something I'd be happier in. I chatted with my advisor about my concerns, and he went off on me. Yelled at me for what seemed like forever. I guess I should have considered that he was the Asst Dean for that particular study before I told him I didn't want to do it anymore. I was a freshman for crying out loud, it wasn't like I was giving up halfway through my thesis! I was also confused theologically. I had been raised one denomination, but never really and truly taught. I had ventured out into another denomination and while I was getting teaching, there were "holes" in the teaching and questions that were not being answered.

Any way, all this to show just how confused I was. Now one of the great things about my freshman year is I got to spend more time repairing my relationships with my parents. Three days a week I had a break at the perfect time to have lunch with Dad, so I did that about once a week. Two days a week my break was right on the same time as Mom's, so I would have a late lunch with her, or just drop by her office and see her for a while before going to work or what have you. Mom and a coworker of hers had decided I needed to meet Some Guy that worked there. They were driving me NUTS about it. Apparently, sometime early in the fall, this Some Guy (who Mom had a friendly working relationship with) had seen a picture of me she kept on her desk, and made a comment. What he actually said is still debated. At that moment, Mom and Karen decided the two of us were perfect for each other, and it was their duty to get us together. I remember on one occasion, telling Mom I wanted to see CATS (it was playing nearby) but I couldn't convince any of my friends to see it with me. She asked if I wanted her to ask this Some Guy to take me! What??? No, I did not want my MOTHER asking this guy to take me out to see it. This went on for several weeks...months even.

One cold, wet day in January I dropped by Mom's office. A side note here, Mom worked for the transportation system at the Regional hospital. She did data entry. Some Guy worked there part time in the afternoons after school, transporting patients. He was a paramedic, and transferred critical patients from hospital to hospital and that sort of thing. It was rainy, and yucky. I had overslept and thrown on jeans and a tee shirt. I had my hair in a messy ponytail and a raincoat on. I was not looking my best. I stopped by and found Mom not in her office, but in the breakroom, along with my stepfather and Karen. Mom jumped up, and hurried out while calling, "Stay there!" over her shoulder. My initial thought was to make a break for it out the emergency exit, because I had no idea what she was up too. I didn't though, Karen engaged me in conversation and I was trapped. A few minutes later Mom reappeared, dragging a tall lanky guy by the arm into the room. She announced "Jamie, this is Some Guy (okay, she used his real name), Some Guy, this is Jamie. I will now step back and let nature take its course." I responded by saying, "I am gonna kill you!" to her in what I hoped was a firm whisper. Some Guy and I tried to talk a bit, but I was extremely embarrassed, and everyone in the room was watching us, listening, and interrupting.  After a few minutes he looked at me and said, "Have you ever seen Some Guy check the oil level in a transport van? Would you like to?"  I caught on that he was trying to get us out of the crowd and agreed to go with him.

That was January 30, 1996. (Side note, two days later I dressed really cute and stopped by to say hello. He walked me to my car as I was leaving, and he says that is when he knew I was the One). Some Guy became Man O Mine shortly thereafter, and we were happily married on December 28, 1996. Now over 14 years, one cat (who is no longer with us), three children, one dog, and life in 4 states (2 of them twice!) later I love him more than I would have ever believed possible. I know who I am, I am his wife and our children's mother. I am more grounded in my faith, thanks to his spiritual leadership and our years together and two religious institutions of higher learning. If you had told me 15 years ago that I would be happily married to a military officer, with three kids and a crazy dog, in a home hundreds of miles from my family I might have laughed at you. I am all of that now.

Every now and then, we send Mom and Karen flowers on January 30, with a note that says something like "XX years ago you couldn't mind your own business. Thank you!"