In The Beginning...

All of us who are married had an "In the beginning" moment in our lives. Mine happened almost twenty-three years ago in the town of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Now I must confess that since I was about fifteen I had a driving desire to marry and share my life with a special woman. I can remember watching my parents together and thinking, "Man, I want that!" Of course I did the "dating" thing yet there never seemed to be that one moment in my heart where I felt I had found the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

I remember going to a Carmen concert in Tulsa, Oklahoma with my church. The girl I was dating at the time and I had purchased tickets for a couple of teenagers, and had driven them to Tulsa with a whole group from our church. As we all made our way to our seats and got ready for the show to start, I looked down the row behind me to the seat at the opposite end of that row, and there I saw her. My heart was smitten, I thought who is that girl? I have got to meet her.

The concert was great, there was a huge move of God during it and then we all went back to the church to drop off the teens. It was there in the church parking lot that I saw her once again. She was actually standing by my car window and I was completely taken back by how beautiful she was, and vowed to myself that I would get to know this girl.

A few weeks later while I was at work, she came into my dad's shoe store to purchase some shoes. I could hardly speak, I was excited to see her again. I helped her pick out a pair of Dexter hand-stitched shoes, and then for the rest of the day I was floating on a cloud. I could not believe how beautiful this woman was, she literally took my breath away. (Something she still continues to do to this day as well.)

I don't know how long it was, maybe a week possibly two and she came back into the shoe store with the shoes I had sold her. I actually thought she was coming back in to see me, until she showed me one of her shoes and told me that it was coming apart. I quickly fixed the problem for her, and she left. It wasn't until later that we began to talk at church a little bit more, and after a fellowship dinner I was asked if I could help her drive a vehicle back to her brother's house in Vian, Oklahoma. I quickly agreed and off we went.

That night after returning to where I had parked my car, we sat and talked for hours and hours about what we wanted out of life, and where we thought God was taking us. A dear friend named Leslie lived in the apartment complex where I had parked my car and told us later that she had watched us through the blinds to see what we were doing. I don't remember if I kissed her that night or not, but I was hooked and that was the night that I knew I would share my life with this girl. I often told people after that night that I was going to marry Cheryl, but not to say anything to her about it, because we hadn't talked about that yet.

The rest is history as they say, God has done a mighty powerful work in mine and Cheryl's lives these past twenty plus years. I can honestly say that she is my best friend, and someone that I am so thankful I get to spend my life with. Without her by my side, I would just be another doofus male trying to get by. Here's to "In the beginnings...."