Sentimental Sunday A Hero Story...Love At First Sight

I have told my story many times to others, but it is usually in conjunction with being a college student and trying to work full time.

I had just moved to Houston from St Ann, Illinois where I had been living and working with my best friend. I had decided I wanted to go back to college and finish. Now, I had only gone to one semester at the local college where I lived in Oklahoma, while living at home. I suffered a heart break and my best friend said come up and live with me to get away from it all. I was working for SW Bell telephone as an operator, so it was easy to transfer. We had a lot of fun.
My mom and dad encouraged me to go back and finish college. I started researching places to go for a Nursing degree, and the best one was in Houston. My best friend was up for an adventure and decided to move to Houston with me.
We got there. She had been able, if memory serves me well, to transfer with her skills. I on the other hand found there weren't any openings with the telephone company in Houston. The college posted jobs available in the area. One was to be an all night checker at the Methodist Hospital cafeteria. I guess they catered to students, because I got the job even though I had never worked as a checker before. It was a lot easier getting a beginning job back  in the day. I often now feel like it was meant to be. My thoughts were how hard can it be? I can work all night, probably get some study in, and then go to school during the day. I can do this.
Ahmad was training me. He was quitting, so he was training me to take his place. The first night I was in training, Ahmad had a huge group of friends come in during his break time to visit. The Hero was among them. He was home on leave from his Army Reserve Training.

My handsome hero

As I sat there, I just listened to the conversation flow. The Hero was asking Ahmad for help because his wife had filed for a divorce on him the 2nd month of his training. At one point, our eyes met and held. I was mesmerized. Later in life we reminisced about our first meeting. He said he thought my eyes were so pretty and he wanted to know me, but at the time, his thoughts were on his crumbling marriage.  I remembered being caught up in the moment in his eyes and wondering, how could I ever date a divorced man. Neither of us ever forgot the moment that everything else faded away and our eyes were locked.
It would be 2 months later before we dated, and a year later before we married, but the love was there. He hesitated fearing to be hurt again. I was not ready to hesitate, and never let go. He laughed and said on our first date I was the most forward girl he ever met... Okay, I told him I was going to marry him and have his children...not the most subtle way to let a man know you have chosen him.
It all worked out and we had our forever marriage sealed in the Mesa Temple...and ya'all have been hearing about the rest of the story.
Sometimes, not always, hearts touch each other through the eyes. I am glad ours did.

The Hero Made a Difficult Decision: Sentimental Sunday

I am combining two memes today. One is Sentimental Sunday which I have done for years and the other is Blue Raspberry Sunday by Aine at Blue Raspberry Sky.

This is a sentimental look at a hard decision that the Hero made which affected our lives and fits both memes that have kept me blogging when it would have been easy to quit.


When the Hero and I first married, we lived in Houston. This was the Hero's birth city and where he fully expected to live out his days in.  I on the other hand was not a city girl and desired to go to the country.  My mom and dad lived in Oklahoma and we wanted them to move to Texas so we kept an eye out for them a small acreage of land.
Meanwhile, the Hero compromised with me and we moved to a rent house that belonged to his
dad's company in the outer suburbs (at that time) which qualified, for him, to be in the country.

The house was most people's dream. It had 5 bedrooms, 2 car garage, 2 1/2  baths,  fireplace, an office, and a swimming pool.

 I admit, it was not my dream. It was in the middle of a subdivision, although this is where I earned the title of snake killer.
About a year later, we discovered some property 6 acres with a house partially started for sale just 30 miles north of us in a small town.  They had their own school district, so it was perfect for my parents and would be close enough for us to visit frequently and the children to have a taste of country.  When my dad saw it he was excited, there was a shack on it that was called a cabin which he could live in while getting the house finished and then my mom could move on down.

He thought was a great idea.  It took us about 6 months to get all the paper work done and my dad moved down.  My baby was 18 mos old, and my oldest was just ready to finish 2nd grade. She adored our big home, her friends, and the status she had at school.
My dad of course began to populate the "farm" first before finishing the house. :D  I was not surprised.

The second weekend we went up to help him work on the house, the well had stopped, and he decided to pull the well casing and clean it with the help of some friends he had already made in the area.  The Hero was all excited about learning to fix things on his own and not having to pay a serviceman.  They worked hard, pulled the casing, and by the end of the day they were all exhausted.  That night, my dad got up in the middle of the night, and started belching and complaining of heart burn.  He was pale, but asked for coffee.  We got him some. He threw up, then commenced to collapse in the Hero's arms.  The Hero picked him up and put him in the car.  I got in the backseat and held my dad's head while the Hero drove 100 miles an hour down a two lane road to cover 20 miles in 15 minutes.  We never saw a policeman either. We got to the hospital and in the ER they said he had suffered a major heart attack (Myocardial Infarction).  My Hero gave him a blessing as there weren't any other Elders in the area to help. My dad made it through.
We knew we had a challenge on our hands.  My mother had already quit her job, and my dad was not going to be able to finish their house.  After much thought and prayer, the Hero decided (it had to be his decision)  we would move up to the "cabin" and live there to finish the house for my parents. That way I could help them during the week as my mom wouldn't be able to take care of my dad and the farm too.  This was a decision that changed our lives totally and affected all our children forever.  It was a shock to move from a 5 bedroom house with all amenities to a shack that sometimes would not have running water or a working bathroom.

 The Hero was a brave man to take on the responsibility.  He felt a sense of responsibility since he had paved the way for them to move from their home.  It took us another 2 years before we started a house of our own.  I know many times he wished maybe he had not done that and had decided to stay in the city.  He didn't though, and stuck it out to the very end.  There were blessings and I have to admit, some very hard times that shaped each life as a result. I was thankful for his strong character and devotion to family.

It all worked together for our good in some way. I hope the children feel the same way.