40th Anniversary

We just passed a milestone--40 years ago on February 8, 1969, we had our first date. I was a freshman and Dale was a junior at Harding College (University now) in Searcy, Ark. He'd been stalking me on campus for a while, and I thought he was a creep. After he broke up with his girlfriend back in St. Louis, he started making his move on me. He asked me to go to the campus movie on Saturday night. It was Cat Ballou, and he paid all of 50c on me. I don't really have much recollection of the date. I think I went just because I didn't want to stay in my dorm room alone yet another Saturday night. I wasn't much impressed with the hot-shot from St. Louis who tried to impress me by showing me his gallery of girl photos in his wallet--I guess to show me what a great catch he was. Later, when he told me he was on the Dean's list for his grade point, I didn't believe him. He just didn't seem like the studious type. He had to show me his name on the list before I'd believe him.

The photo above shows us in the library studying. That's what our early dates consisted of--studying at the library, doing laundry at the campus laundromat, going to the campus movies. We had neither cars nor money, so we just hung out and got to know each other. At Harding, once you go out on 2 or 3 dates, everyone thinks of you as engaged, so then you're off-limits. I always tease Dale that he scared off all the decent boys, so I was stuck with him. I don't really believe that. I believe that God had a plan for me (for us) . Good thing, as neither of us had made very good choices on our own.

I am thankful for that first date, which led to a second, and a third, and eventually to falling in love. It's been a good life. We've weathered the ups and downs by the grace of God. As Kelly said, it's a good thing we made it past that first date, otherwise there would be no Kelly and Hannah, Dom or Noel. Isn't life interesting?!