Hello, I love You! Won't You Tell Me Your Name??

Do you believe in Love At First Sight?

I'm not sure if you can actually fall in love at the first sight of a person but I sure came close.  When I was 14 I had just become a Christian and I was anxious for all my friends to hear about Christ as well. I had a good buddy named Frank DePadova.  We hung out a lot at his house since we never knew if my Aunt would be drunk and lock the door at mine.

The guy who first told me about Christ, Wally Crowder, and I decided we wanted Franky to hear the Gospel and Wally suggested we take him to a guy who was really good at explaining it. That guy was Herb Paynter. So, we picked up Franky and drove about 15 miles down to Cutler Ridge where Herb lived. Herb had no idea we were coming but that didn't matter to him.

We rang the bell and Herb opened the door. Wally said "This is Frank.  Can you tell him about going to heaven?" We physically pushed Franky into the house where Herb was very happy to talk to him.

Before we turned to walk back to Wally's car, SHE WAS JUST 17, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? AND THE WAY SHE LOOKED WAS WAY BEYOND COMPARE... I SAW HER STANDING THERE! Hmmm?  Sounds like a great Beatles song. I was taken back by her.  I have an indelible image in my mind of what I saw.  She was putting a record on  the HiFi.

Beatles Fans Click To Hear It. Be sure to come back and finish reading.

For the next few days, I couldn't stop thinking about her.  I didn't even know her name. I think Wally told me it was "Kathy". "That's the coolest name ever," I thot to myself.

From that point on, I couldn't help notice her at youth meetings and church.  I remember she sang in a girls trio and, to this day, I would rather hear her sing than anyone in the world.

In fact, one of the main reasons I started playing the guitar was because Kathy got me interested in music.  Well, I was interested in her and SHE liked music.  Good enough for me. I LOVED to play for her to sing.

What Did She Ever See In Me?
When I met Kathy I was not a guy you would want your daughter to be around.  I was a street kid.  Motorcycle, black leather jacket and a 4 inch switchblade in my sock.  I almost always wore all black. I was a thief.  Actually a very good one.  I figured that if you had something that I could steal from you, well, you didn't deserve it anyway.

I remember screwing up all my courage to ask Kathy out on a date.  I asked her to go to the church missionary banquet with me and, to my surprise, she said yes.  I remember I was so excited that I ran back to the car and actually ran up the trunk, over the roof and down the hood.

NOTE:  We are the adorable couple in the angled chairs on the lower right.

I think Kathy felt she had made a big mistake when I showed up at her place dressed in all black. She had a gorgeous velvet formal on. She later told me she had run to her parents and told them "I can't go out with him looking like that!"  I'm grateful forever to Herb & Doris for telling her she had to go.

Kathy hated my black leather jacket. But, I actually still have it and she will not let me get rid of it.  Here's how I managed that:

When I asked Kat to marry me, she was helping me clean up a room I was gonna move into at a dorm. She had been cleaning the windows with newspaper and her hands were black with the ink.   I got down on one knee and "popped the question" pulling the ring out of the zippered pocked of my motorcycle jacket. Now that jacket is super important to her :-)

I was 147 pounds when we married so I can't wear that jacket any more. But, it fit my precious niece Kim when she was a teenager.  I do have to say it never looked this good on me.

I gave Kat a heart shaped locket exactly 1 year before our wedding.  We would tap it and say "One year to go". She wore and treasured that for years and a few years ago we lost it.  A sad day that was.  But, She still has me!

Sooo much more to come on me and my wonderful soul mate.

The Buzzard