52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Richard & Me

Richard and I meet on Saturday July 20th of 1991 at a church dance. I knew right off the bat he was younger than myself. We danced and talked and he even laughed at a story I told. I thought well at least he has a sense of humor and I will have someone to speak with at the dances. He walked me out to my car and said good night and that was that. Most of the guys I meet told me I wasn’t there type, I was too strong, too intelligent, too independent, too intimidating and too everything else. So it was nice to have a down to earth guy to speak with.

A month later, August 17th, I went back to the same dance. I saw him standing by himself so I went over to say hi. He said, “I have looked for you at every Friday & Saturday night dance and every Sunday night Fireside.” Well I wasn’t accustomed to guys looking for me most of them went the other way when I came by. So I stood there in shock and thought to myself OK, just let it in Mary. So we danced some more and talked.

He invited me out to eat after the dance; and we planned to meet at Denny’s on Southern and Country Club. I arrived first and I was waiting, about 15 minutes went by and no Richard yet. I thought if he isn’t he in 5 more minutes I will leave. He made it before his time was up. He ran out of gas across the street from a gas station. He had to push his car to fill up the tank. I had met my share of strange guys and I decided I was going to lay it all out. I told him over breakfast that, “There wasn’t a man who walks on the face of the earth worth taking crap from.” I can’t remember if I said it or just thought, “And I define crap.” That did not scare him off. He made sure he had my last name and phone number this time. He was upset with himself for not asking for it when we meet in July.
He called on Wednesday evening while on break from his classes. After the first couple of weeks we were dating every Friday & Saturday night after that. He was working, managing apartments and going to school to be an airplane mechanic. So we didn’t see each other every day, which I think was a good thing and allowed us some down time.

I didn’t meet the kids until October though he wanted me to meet them sooner. They were cute and liked me right off the bat. Of course that changed a little after we had been married for awhile and they came to live with us.

Our Engagement Picture

He proposed in January after we had attended a relationship workshop, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. We both learned a lot about relationships and the differences between men and women.  After the workshop he had taken me home and said he had to go run an errand and he would be right back.  He came back with fresh flowers and red I love you balloon.  He got all serious, nervous and asked me to marry him. 

Since we knew it was the right thing to do we set the date for March 13th a Friday. He wanted the 17th so he could remember the date of our first date but that was a Tuesday and I didn’t want to get married on a Tuesday.

He tells people the Lord put me right in his lap. I had sat down by someone I knew and Richard was on the other side of me, so when I finished speaking to my friend, I turned to Richard and said, "Hi, what's your name?"  It was his first singles dance and I was only going once a month because there were boring and painful. I tell him I had to moved to Arizona for him to find me. 

It was twenty years ago in January that he proposed and I am glad he did and I am glad I said yes!