Love at First Sight

     Well, it's been a while since I posted anything in my blog although I've thought about it several times.  I really want to blog about my parents and grandparents and just my childhood and life in general so my kids know who they came from and how they got here.
     I guess I'll start with how Terry and I met.  I think my kids have heard the story but it was only if they overheard us telling it to someone else.  It's just not something I ever really thought about telling them but I know God was a part of it and I know God was a part of all of them meeting their loves so it's worth sharing. 
     Terry and I met at church.  I remember the first time we met rather vividly but he didn't really notice me because I was "jail bait" - I was 16 and he was 22.  Any way, he was stationed at Keesler AFB for Comm School after Officer Candidate School in the fall of 1979.  I was a Junior in high school.  I grew up attending church at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Rodenburg Drive in Biloxi, MS just a couple of blocks away from the gate of  Keesler.  Terry's Uncle and Aunt, Evan and Sue Darrow, attended my church so Terry started attending with them.  He loved to sing so he joined the Adult Choir and also came to the Youth Choir practices to help out and to have something to do.  One Sunday I was sitting on the back pew of the church rather close to one of the guys that had recently started attending church and I was actually going over some verses with this guy in a little tiny Bible.  One of the other guys in the youth group came walking up with Terry and he proceeded to introduce Terry to the few of us back there.  Terry had on a yellow Wright State polo, tight flared(what would be boot cut today) jeans, and a big belt buckle(he had a collection of interchangeable buckles).  He was tall, dark, handsome, and had a little mustache - what more can I say.  I remember thinking to myself at that moment, "He's gonna be mine!" and "I hope he doesn't think I like this guy", (the one I was sitting next to)

     So any way, after that, I made sure I was in his car, a cute convertible red VW Bug with blue crushed velvet seats his dad had recovered, anytime the youth group went bowling or to Pizza Hut after church on Sunday nights.  It was in Pizza Hut (he says it was a Pizza Inn) that we first touched elbows and he finally noticed me.  One night after dropping me back off at my car at the church he asked if I thought my dad would be okay with us dating.  I said I thought so.  He had been over to the house several times to eat with us because Momma was good about inviting the young singles over just to be hospitable and he had been over to practice songs he was going to sing in church because Momma played the piano.  He had also been over to spend time with my older brother who was there working on a Triumph Spitfire he was trying to build.  I also had an older sister that my parents thought he might be coming to see when she was home from college over the winter break.  The youth group had a Valentine's Banquet but I had already told another guy that I would sit with him so I told Terry he could sit on the other side but I wasn't officially with either one of them.  But any way we went out on our first official date- it was a double date with Mike Augustine and his girlfriend.  We went to Pizza Hut and the movie Jesus.  
When church softball started, I would pick him up and take him and watch his games and promise him a kiss if he hit it over the fence.  I think he managed that a few times but he got plenty of kisses any way when I dropped him off back at his trailer.
One night we went on Visitation to visit a young man that had been to the church.  The kid ended up not being home so it was kind of a wasted evening as far as that goes but I found it to be almost a perfect night - there was a gorgeous sunset, perfect temperature with the top down on his convertible, and when we got back to the church he gave me his high school class ring to keep until he came back - he was moving to the DC area soon.  I knew for sure that night that he was going to come back for me.
The first letter I received from him after he had moved was a letter asking me to marry him - yes, he took the cowards way out.  I wrote back saying yes.  We had planned to talk to each other on the phone every Saturday but that quickly turned into every night.  He would call after 11 his time but it was just 10 for me so it wasn't too late since I was still in high school.  He kept track of the minutes and knew how much his phone bill would be each month - over $100 bucks every month.  The first time we saw each other after he moved was in October.  He had called my dad and told him they needed to talk while he was there.  My daddy avoided him the whole weekend.  It was pretty funny.  Terry ended up just showing up at my house Sunday morning before church and talking to him.  I didn't even know Terry was there until Momma came in my room where I was drying my hair and said that Terry wanted to be part of the family.  When Momma told Mam-ma she said, "No, I'm not making him an afghan." but, of course, she did.  Daddy's only stipulation was that I finish school and go to college which was our original plan, too.  Well, we had originally planned to wait four years but that changed and I finished high school in May and married in August of 1981.  I did go to one semester of college at Prince George's Community College and did well but ended up calling Daddy and saying that it just wasn't for me.  He understood.  
After Terry's visit in October, it was decided that I would spend Thanksgiving in Ohio so I could meet his family.  I do remember spending several days trying to buy a coat to wear in Ohio and finally finding a nice burgundy one - I think it might have been my first real coat since we didn't really need them much in Mississippi.  
I flew to Ohio and Terry's parents were at the airport to pick me up - Terry wasn't scheduled to get there until the next day.  After the awkward ride home we got to their house and, surprise, Terry was already there!  That was a huge relief.  After we all had gotten in the house and gotten over the surprise of Terry being there, he promptly pulled out the ring and officially proposed right there in their kitchen with everyone watching.  I was sooo surprised.  It was finally all official.  I don't really remember much more about the weekend.  I just knew I was with Terry.