Three days after graduating from high school, I moved from my small mountain town in Buena Vista, Colorado, for San Marcos, Texas. My sister and her family lived there, as well as my current boyfriend. It was the end of May, and Texas was experiencing a heat wave with temperatures soaring into the 100s, something I was definitely not used to! The two high school friends that traveled with me to San Marcos left after two weeks to go back to cooler weather, and my boyfriend and I broke up shortly thereafter, but for some reason I decided to stay.
I got a job working as a Ward Clerk at Hays Memorial Hospital, but quickly got transferred to Radiology as a medical transcriptionist and receptionist. It was at this hospital where I saw a really hot, 6’ 2” muscle-bound man wearing his sexy uniform which was a zip-up coverall. (Wish I had a picture!) He was working in the maintenance department. He seemed to notice me as well, and would make a point to come by and talk to me, and would come fix my typewriter for me, even though it wasn’t broken. One day we were punching out at the time clock together and he asked me, “What are you doing for the next 50 years?” I don’t think I responded . . . the next 50 years? I found out later he had told his secretary, “I’m going to marry that girl someday”, as he watched me walk down the hallway away from him.
A few weeks later, we were both alone in the elevator together, when he punched the emergency stop button in between floors, pulled me over to him, and planted a big kiss on me. Wow! “Where did that come from?” I exclaimed. Obviously, he was interested in me, but he would never ask me out, which I didn’t quite understand, so I took matters into my own hands. We were in the break room together one night and I asked him if he wanted to go out sometime. His response was that he couldn’t, because he had a girlfriend! Well, he sure didn’t act like it! Apparently, he had just gotten back together with his old girlfriend that he had previously dated for three years. A couple weeks later, we were both working late, and he finally asked me if I wanted to go somewhere after work. He had broken up with his girlfriend!
From that day on, we went steady, with a few little bumps in the road which I will leave for another story. After dating for about a year, I decided it was time to get married. Actually, Mark (that was his name : )) would ask me every day to marry him, but I would never say yes because I didn’t know for sure if he was a Christian. My parents always told me I had to marry a Christian. He asked me again one day in his truck as we were driving to his trailer if I would marry him, and I told him I couldn’t unless he was a Christian. He proceeded to tell me the very day and summer during a Baptist youth camp that he gave his heart to the Lord. That’s all I needed to hear. I said yes!
Mark grew up in a broken home. His mom went though several divorces and his step-dad was abusive. Needless to say, Mark was really scared to get married. He thought that since he proposed that would keep me quiet for awhile, without having to actually “tie the knot”. I thought otherwise. One day we were shopping at Barton Springs Mall in Austin and walked by a jewelry store. I wanted to look at rings, so he went along with it. The salesman helped me pick out a ring that I liked, and asked if we wanted to buy it. Mark thought that he would never get approved with his credit, so he went along with it. Much to his chagrin, I walked away with a beautiful marquis solitaire on my left ring finger! "Maybe that will make her happy for awhile," he thought.
That summer, we drove down to Corpus Christi to spend a weekend with his mom. I don’t remember why now, but Mark had gone off with his friends to the beach, so his mom and I were at her house. By the time he returned, we had a wedding date and the colors of the wedding chosen! I think he almost fainted!
Mark still had one last loophole. He was finishing his degree at San Marcos State University (now called Texas State), and wasn’t going to get married before he graduated. Well, that wasn’t a problem for me! We signed him up for 17 hours that semester, while he continued to work at the hospital. He had to take two on-line courses, and I had to do some of his homework for him, but he finished by June, just in time for our July 19th date!
Mark just knew his life was going to end the day he got married, as his friends had so graciously warned him, but he was able to sweat out his vows, and we were married two years after we first started dating, on a very hot Texas day. We were married by Sam Cooksey, our pastor at the time, in a Presbyterian church, and had a BBQ reception down by the San Marcos River.
Almost 27 years have passed since that day, and Mark and I have shared many joys and sorrows along the way, but our marriage has truly been blessed by the Lord. Mark’s fears have long since vanquished because God has kept us together and given us many happy days together.
