257 Months

Have you ever known a couple that was all mushy and lovey-dovey and it really just irritates you? That used to be us.

A long time ago, in a galaxy not too far away, my phone rang and a good friend of mine said “Are you going to the prom?” I said, er, no, I didn’t know anyone that I wanted to take to the prom. “Well, you might want to ask E. Really, I think she’d love to go with you.”

It’s a long story, so if you’ve got time…– Open dis here up >>

Well, Prom is serious bidness, especially in Plano, so I couldn’ “just call her up.” We’re talking about dressing up and going out to eat and all that jazz. So I thought, “Why don’t I call her ahead of time, and if we get along, THEN we can think about prom.” I relayed this brilliant thought to my friend and she confirmed it was an excellent plan.We couldn’t have been more different. She was a sweet girl from a huge catholic family, honor roll in school, taking advanced courses (she had almost finished her freshman year of college and she was still a senior in high school). She was active at church, she volunteered around town.

I had a motorcycle. I had a beard, but my hair wasn’t too long anymore. I wasn’t in high school anymore as I had graduated from an “alternative” school. I smoked, I drank, I cussed. I had no use for church. I was working, full time, waiting until I would perhaps go off to college, or not.

Nervously, I called her. We talked. We had mutual friends, we both loved animals, movies. We talked some more. We agreed to go out. Our first date, to a party, was on April 18, 1983. After it was over, I walked her back to her front door. My palms were sweaty, I wasn’t sure she liked me. I didn’t know what would happen next. I was afraid of her parents, strict Catholics. She had lots of older sisters watching out for her.

We said goodnite, I had fun, maybe we can do this again. I worked up my nerve – “Can I have a hug?”

She kissed me, I kissed her back. It was just like the movies, you could hear waves breaking on the shore; choirs in heaven, cannons going off. Okay, not really, but it was a pretty damn good kiss.

We went to prom, together. Stayed out all night (with her parents permission, but they didn’t know we spent half the night in my car out at the lake). We started counting our months together, not sure how long our very different personalities would mesh like they seemed to. By five months we went off to college – at different schools. By seven months we were running up $200 phone bills and driving each weekend to see each other.

By eight months I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. We were officially engaged on Christmas Eve, before we went to midnight mass. We wed four years later, two weeks after my college graduation.

You Catholic girls start much too late
But sooner or later it comes down to fate
I might as well be the one.

Tomorrow – 257 months.