My First...(Date with DearHubby)

DearHubby first saw me at a college recruiting weekend at the company we both ended up being employed at. He said that he never forgot me because he saw me walking into the hotel building between 2 towering men. I am only 5' tall and was the only female engineer who graduated in my class that year. I caught a ride with 2 of my classmates to this college recruiting weekend.

DearHubby started working for CompanyABC in June of 1998 and I arrived in August of 1998. We both ended up working under the same department. Therefore, on my first day at work, as he passed through the main department's office, the secretary pointed me out to him and told him that it was my first day. DearHubby looked over at me and remembered me from that weekend. I don't quite remember if we talked to each other that day, but we soon ran into each other often on the factory floor. I was hired as a Manufacturing Engineer and he was hired as a New Product Introduction technician. Therefore, we both had a lot of work to do both on the factory floor and with the Tool Shop.

Sometimes DearHubby would stop by my desk to chat and I remember one of our first conversations was about calculators and Calculus class. We later moved on to conversations about our weekend, mostly his and his motorcycle racing adventures. One of his first stories he told me about was of a race he went to where he forgot his sleeping bag and had to sleep in his cold van with just his extra clothes as his coverings.

I was soon moved out of the department's main office into my own office up on the mezzanine. It was soon after I purchased my first car that DearHubby came up to my office to visit me one Friday afternoon. I had a hunch that he wanted to ask me to go out with him that weekend so I turned him down before he even had the opportunity to ask. As he walked into my office I said, "What are you doing this weekend? I'm driving down to Pittsburgh!" So, that's when DearHubby told me that he came up to see if I wanted to go to church with him that Sunday. In response I told him maybe some other time. So, in DearHubby's persistence, he asked, "Well, what about next week?" I didn't know what I had planned for the next week and so I didn't have a good excuse about why I couldn't go with him. Therefore, I felt cornered and told him ok.

The next Friday, DearHubby gave me directions to his church and I met him there that Sunday. I'm not sure if we went out to lunch afterwards, but if we did, it was also with a buddy of his that he knew from home. I just remember DearHubby driving this really cool black car with flames on it. It turned out to be a 1967 Ford Mustang that he fixed up in high school and then hopped up in college. As we drove home and onto the highway, I remember DearHubby challenging me to a race in my little Ford Escort. So I stepped on the gas. I thought I beat him because I could no longer see him on my side or my rear view mirror. Later, I discovered he actually took an exit.

The next Wednesday, DearHubby came back into my office asking if I wanted to go out to eat. Not wanting to get into a serious relationship at that point, I told him that I needed to go to Sears to look for a new tool, a torx head, for one of the processes on the factory floor. Unfortunately for me, DearHubby likes shopping for tools at Sears and so he offered to come along with me to help me find the tool and then we could go out to eat. Still trying not to lead DearHubby on, I told him that I didn't have any money to go out to eat. Once again, in his persistence, he said, "Well, you have an ATM card, don't you!" Again, not having a good come back, I felt cornered and I agreed to go out to eat with him.

We ended up eating at a Pizza Hut just 5 minutes from my apartment. The jukebox was playing so loud that it was hard to hear each other talk. Since DearHubby knew I lived close-by, in the middle of our conversation he asked if we could go back to my place. In the back of my mind I thought, "Who is this guy? Man is he pushy and what's he expecting tonight?" I told him I didn't feel comfortable going back to my place, but if he wanted to keep talking we could take a drive. So, I ended up driving us to my church. We were having such a good time talking that evening that we eventually ended up back at my apartment each having a cup of hot cocoa. I'm not sure what time DearHubby finally left, but it was a good and nice evening for both of us.

So, that's it, my first date(s) with DearHubby. As a disclosure, after we were married, DearHubby revealed to me just how nervous he was each time he asked me out. He said that as he climbed the stairs to my office he was literally shaking up the stairs. Yet to me, he always seemed confident and persisitent and though I was not initially interested in him, it was his persistent pursuit of me and his treating me like a queen that caused me to fall in love with him and to eventually marry him in August of 1999. We "officially" started dating/courting in November 1998 and DearHubby proposed on May 21, 1999 and we were married on August 21, 1999.

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