Episode #23: A Good Wife Is A Gracious Gift From God ... Proverbs 19:14

This post won't mean as much to those who do not know Carol Ann, but those that do know her, I know you love her and this is my story about a young teenaged girl that captured my heart so many decades ago. I know my family will enjoy this episode and the look back.

Carol Ann defines the term love at first sight for me. She was 16 years old in this picture and we met a year later when we were both seniors attending different high schools. We met one cool January afternoon in 1975 while making "the drag" you know, the practice of driving through town to the Safeway parking lot then back through town to the Sonic drive-in then repeat, repeat to ad nauseam. I had a couple of buddies riding with me and we would honk and wave at the town girls, (remember, I was a 17 year old boy who lived in a small very and rural community about 15 miles away). 

She was riding around with one of her friends and when they waved back that was all I needed to turn around and follow. We caught up with them at Sonic drive-in, got out of the car to go over and talk. I walked up to the passenger side and there sat the girl that I would marry in less than 10 months. I had heard of love at first sight, but didn't necessarily believe it was a real thing, but right then and there is where it happened. Our meeting that day was magical and she is the last girl I will ever date. 

I had a partial football scholarship waiting for me at a small Jr College and was planning on moving to Stephenville Texas in a few months. Now none of that made any sense to me, I just wanted to be with this girl. We would both graduate in May, turn 18 in August and we married on October 4, 1975 . We literally grew up together and had absolutely no idea what adult life and marriage was supposed to look like so we created it together. The next 49+ years have been filled with challenges and opportunities that we learned to navigate together. We had all the ups and downs that any married couple lives through and we were doing it as teenagers. It was like the opening line in Charles Dickens' book Tale of Two Cities on steroids. It was the best of times and the absolute worst of times, but we learned how to enjoy the good things that came our way and how to survive the devastating years that were in store for us and not give up on each other.

The following is a photo collection of my child bride and me over the years from teenagers to retirees. This is meant to honor her as we move together toward our 50th next October.

We missed my senior prom because I was at the regional track meet that year at Tarleton Jr College and didn't get back in time. We did make it to her prom a couple of weeks later and here we are now only a couple of weeks from high school graduation.

I got finished with my high school graduation and got to town in time to attend hers and got this picture as she walked down the isle toward the stage to get her diploma.

Here we are, fresh out of high school just after graduation and just hanging around.

I thought she was so cute in her glasses but she did not like them and did not wear them very much, but these days she doesn't have that choice.

We were celebrating my birthdays since they are only 15 days apart in August and this picture included my brother Danny and my Dad.

Here is one of her birthday cake a few days later.

This was the picture for our upcoming wedding announcement for the local newspaper

This is a photo of Carol Ann and Ruthie who is the girl she was riding around with the day we met.

This photo was taken during her wedding shower at her sister Sandra's house a couple of weeks before our wedding.

My beautiful 18 year old child bride.

As we were leaving the church after the wedding ceremony and reception.

At my parents for a visit when my Auntie and Uncle came through for a visit in the summer of 1977.

This picture of us was taken in the early summer of 1979 at my brother's wedding.

In 1979 and we had bought our first new car a year earlier and we were on our first vacation together The trip was to Colorado and this picture was taken at Bear Lake near Estes Park Colorado.

We were new parents here with our first baby boy Aaron who was born in March 1980.

The young mother with her baby Easter 1982  Those wicker chairs were the rage in the late 70s and early 80s and we had two.

We had been married for a dozen years when I took this picture and my child bride is now 30 years old.

Now fast forward about 15 years. We were on a vacation in southern California to visit my Auntie and Uncle who lived there.

Add another year or two with this one while we were on a family vacation in Eureka Springs Arkansas.

Another 15 year jump and we are in College Station visiting our youngest son who is in college now and he took this picture for us.

This last picture is us at a work function for me. The company I worked for had customers at a Dallas Cowboy game in 2019, about 5 years ago so this is my child bride after 44 years with me. I love her dearly and simply cannot imagine my life without her in it. I am now retired and we get to spend everyday together and we love every minute of it. 

 Tips on how to search for previous or missed posts of my blog-