Thread: The One That Didn't Get Away.......

I will tell you about a period of time, seven years to be exact, that I went through a huge personal growth experience. It was a time of reflection on my past life and what brought me to my present state of being. So, after the divorce and seven years of being single, I was just taking each day as it came. I had grown to be happy again, forgiving myself for past mistakes, letting it all go and giving myself permission to move on. I grew up poor and didn't have many nice clothes. So, one of the things I indulged myself in was shopping. I loved dressing nice. Most of the time, you would find me in a blazer, starched shirt, tie, shined shoes,etc. After work I would cruise Cortana mall looking for sales then go to Picadilly cafeteria to eat before calling it a night.

One particular afternoon while walking through the mall I saw this small, gorgeous woman coming my way. Being very confident I Pulled my shoulders back and waited for her to acknowledge my obvious stare. It didn't come. What a blow to my ego. I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see if she was looking back. Nope, didn't happen. All my life I have had a vision of the perfect woman for me and there she was walking away. It was like Elizabeth Taylor in the flesh….and she would be out of my sight soon. I knew I had to meet this woman. I had to act quick. I started walking fast after her, almost trotting. What in the world was I going to say. She may think I am crazy, she may be married. I finally got within 3 steps behind her and stopped, without speaking to her. She never saw me. A peace came over me and I said a little Prayer. "Lord, if you want me to meet this woman, you will make it happen" was my prayer.

About three weeks later, I was playing volleyball at this church on a Wednesday night. They had a good social singles group and I enjoyed the vollyball and ping pong. I was sitting down waiting for the next round of vollyball to start and in walked two women. I didn't know either one, and they didn't give me a look either. Over the next two or three weeks I became friendly with one of them and asked her out on a date. On about the third date, she wore a green, lace-up-the-back dress that I remembered from the mall. I couldn't believe it. This was the woman I had seen in the mall. Then, I remembered my Prayer and realized it had been answered. God is good.

We had our first date on August 9th. The following New Years Eve we went to the Church singles group dance. I had the evening all planned and the house ready. Firewood in the firelace, candles placed, big pillow on the floor, wine glasses out and wine in the cooler. So, we left the dance early to celebrate New Years sitting in front of a roaring fire. That night we agreed to share the rest of our lives together and were married the following March. This is a poem I wrote to her to celebrate our twelveth anniversary of that New Years Eve.



And this is the Cajun Queen that stole my heart.....25 years ago..