{Our First Prom: April 1992}
The Beginning….
It is hard to say when we met because in a town of 5,000 you have always known everybody. I do recall my first memory of him, however. I was 3 or 4 and we both went to Mrs. Gardner’s- the local preschool. I remember swinging with Melissa Franklin and singing, “Take this Job and Shove It”, while he and Danny Lane played under the porch. I would die to find a picture of us together at this age. We did ride on the Christmas float together, me on one side and he on the other. Needless to say, my pictures are of my side of the float and at the best capture the back of his head.
My next memory of him is in Junior High. After home football games, we would all go to the church for 5th Quarter- which were dances in the fellowship hall. He was always there, he never asked me to dance; though he danced with all my friends. He later would tell me that he thought I was a prissy girl who did not give him the time of day. Our childhood homes are only about a mile apart and my friends and I were known to ride around the area on 3 wheelers and go-karts, never stopping to say hi or offering a ride. My perception of him was a boy who played a lot of basketball in his driveway.
And then came high school. I was 15 and he was 16. He broke his arm in the first game of football season, which had him in a cast for much of the rest of the year. The first time I ever had a conversation with him was at Sonic after-school. He played every sport in high school and this meeting would have never happened had he not broken his arm because he would have been at practice. Shae and I had recently quit the basketball team due to injuries and we spent the afternoons cruising the L. MSW happened to be at one of our stops. I had just ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, which he ended up eating. We talked briefly. It was the first time that I really ever had a conversation with him. We went on our ways and it would not be until weeks later until we spoke again.
At the time, I did not have a driver’s license so I did a lot of hanging out with my friends who did have a license. My friend, Megan, was dating MSW’s best friend, Shane. They had been trying to get us together forever. It just was not meant to be until December 7, 1991. It was a Saturday. It was the town’s holiday parade and I spent the afternoon riding in the parade on the Drill Team float with all my friends. MSW was out-of-town at a basketball tournament as the cast was now off and he was back in action. After the parade I went with Megan. She was going to Pizza Hut to meet up with Shane that night and I was along for the ride. When MSW got back into town he was meeting up with Shane too. The evening found the four of us sitting in a booth at Pizza Hut. After dinner, we ended up in Shane’s bronco had MSW’s lease. I want to say that Todd also ended up with the 4 of us that night. We talked as the boys looked for hogs (don’t ask, if you don’t get that at first read.) Our curfew was approaching so Megan and I got them to take us back to her car at Pizza Hut. MSW and I said good-bye, we didn’t even hold hands that night, though from that night forward we would never be apart.
To be continued….
