I totally copied this from my friend’s blog, and although it probably isn’t the most ideal time in my life to write the story of how I met my husband, it might just be a good time.
In 1998 after a slew of various part time jobs and attending a few semesters of jr college, I was hired at a department store called SteinMart in Waco, Tx near my hometown of Axtell. I started work there in the ladies’ dept 4 days before my 19th birthday.
Abel worked in the men’s dept on the opposite side of the store. One day he happened to bring over some ladies clothes that had been left in his area and I remember thinking “he’s cute”, but we didn’t speak to each other. Then a few weeks later we happened to be in the break room at the same time. He started a casual conversation with me, and I read him his horoscope from the newspaper. It was the most comfortable I’d ever been around a stranger in my life. A few days later we ended up in the break room together again, I was watching a talk show called Jenny Jones on TV and he asked me something about the show, from that we struck up a conversation. He asked me little details about my life such as my age and where I went to school. And from that a friendship was born…… from then on we just “happened” to find ourselves in the break room together quite often. I would try and catch glimpses of him across the store, I found myself looking on the posted work schedule in the break room to see if he worked the same hours I did that week. Then one day I walked in and checked the schedule only to see his name crossed out completely for the whole week. I asked around and found out he had quit earlier that day. I remember feeling disappointed and thinking “well I guess I’ll never see him again”. I went out on the floor and started working. An hour or so into my shift I looked up and saw Abel walking towards me. He chatted with me about how he got fed up with management and decided to quit; he hung around for a little while even though customers kept coming up to me bugging me with questions. Finally he left the store and said something like “well I guess I’ll see you around”. I still felt a little sad when he left. About 20 minutes later, I was paged with a phone call and it was him. He said that he wanted to ask me for my phone number, but lost his nerve with all the customers around. I gave it to him, but still wasn’t sure if he just wanted a platonic friendship or not. Later that night he called me around 10:00 , and I remember thinking……. “this is too late at night for just a platonic friendship, maybe he wants more”. We went on our first date a few weeks later, and after that spent every day together. We talked on the phone for hours and hours, one time talking from 10:00 at night until 5am. I could tell him anything and he listened. He told me he liked me more and more every time we talked. We shared our thoughts on family, college, work, friendships, religion, and what we wanted to do with our lives. We had so many things in common, and we made each other laugh hysterically. A month after our first date, he left for Basic Training [boot camp] for the Air Force in San Antonio. I can still see him in my mind standing at his doorway waving bye to me as I pulled away. Later he would tell me that he wanted me to ask him not to go.
He wasn’t allowed to use the phone for a few weeks, but finally one day he called. He was only allowed to talk for literally 5 minutes, but he said he would write. And that he did. We wrote back and forth constantly, but it was in that very first letter that he told me how he had come to love me. As time went on he was allowed more privileges at Basic Training, and we were able to talk on the phone again. He said his friends called him “telly” because he was always on the phone. Some days he was so busy he was only able to call me at 5am to tell me good morning, and then call me later that night to say good night. Over the course of 3 months my feelings grew and I realized one day that he and I together just seemed right. I had grown to love him. I was willing to change all my life plans for him, I would go wherever he went. I wanted to be by his side. We didn’t meet under the most ideal circumstances, and even though we raised many eyebrows getting married so quickly and at a young age I knew it was right. I knew it was God’s plan. There was no doubt. We have the same soul, he and I. It was destiny.
On February 15, 1999 we were married in a small chapel in San Antonio with only Abel’s parents as witnesses. We had our wedding later that April once he had graduated from USAF Tech school in San Antonio. We’ve lived in three cities and one very small town. We’ve endured career changes, college careers for us both, two children, buying a home, ups, downs, celebrations and disappointments. And whatever our future holds from here on out, it will never change the story of how we met and came to love each other.
It’s Friday!
2 days ago
