Happy Anniversary!

Today marks Ann and I's 33rd wedding anniversary. The fact the our anniversary now shares a date with the one of the most infamous events in America history makes it pretty difficult to forget. It makes it both a day to celebrate, but also a date to remember. To me it's hard to believe we've been married that long and that we have adult children (some more adult then others). When I meet new couples I'm always curious on how they met. What brought them together. What was the initial attraction. So I'll give you our story.

Ann and I first met in 1975. I was living in Charleston, SC at the time and she lived in Alexandria, VA. We were both working for the Navy (and still do). We were both in the intern training program but working for different Commands. I was involved in ship repair and Ann dealt with buying things for the "Air" side of the Navy. In our line of work, new hires are sent to a ton of classes the first few years. Not surprisingly there are endless amounts of rules and regulations to learn in order to do our jobs. One of the first classes is a four week one to learn the basics. I chose to attend one that was being given in northern Virginia, across the street from the Pentagon , literally, rather then the traditional location, which was Ft Lee in Petersburg, VA, just south of Richmond. The reason I chose the former was so that I could spend time with my family that lived in Maryland at the time. The first day of class started auspiciously as I was over an hour late due to an accident that screwed up rush hour traffic. What a surprise there. Anyway,I finally manged to get to the class, which was being held in an office building in Crystal City, an office/residential/commercial series of buildings located next to National Airport. The class was made up mostly of locals with just a few of us from out of town. Included in the locals were three girls who were friends and all worked in the next office building over. Now remember this was 1975 and the miniskirts was the fashion of the day. The three girls sat on the far side of the room so they had to walk across the front of the classroom to reach their seats. It became a viewing sport to watch them return after breaks. Very cute girls. After a week or so of class, during a break, I was getting a drink from the water fountain and one of the three girls approached me and asked what school I had been a Delt at. She was referring to what fraternity as I was wearing my windbreaker with the fraternity letters on it. I told her I had gone to Auburn. We talked a bit did the introductions and I found out her name was Ann and she asked if I would like to get together for a drink after class. Next to the office building where the class was being held was a Holiday Inn with a bar. A lot of the class went there after class. So we went for drinks and talked and talked and talked. We ended up having dinner there. Then we went back to her apartment where we mostly just watched TV and maybe a little making out before I left late for the long drive back to my parent's house. We went out everyday after that until the class was over and I returned to Charleston. After that there was daily phone calls. Well during the week anyway. I had no phone in my apartment as I was making all of $8,000 a year at the time. We managed to schedule a three week class a few months later. We did the long distance relationship thing for about a little over a year until I managed to switch jobs to the same Command Ann worked for. A few months after tat we were married in my hometown in Maryland. None of this living in sin for Ann. So now 33 years later I can safely say that I definitely made the right pick.