Love created by God alone.

Twenty years ago today, Mike and I were married at Southside Baptist Church by Pastor Rooney from the Methodist Church in Hatton. The church in Hatton is where we were members, but it wasn't big enough for all of my family. I think we had 300 invitations mailed out. I would have to dig out the scrapbook my mom made to get all the details right. I'm not quite sure how to start down this little memory lane trip, so I guess I'll take you back to the beginning.

In 1987 I turned 16 and got my license. There was no getting a permit before you turned 16, just going and testing for your license. In preparation of my 16th birthday, my parents bought me a 1965 Chevelle Malibu Supersport. My Dad, brother and I worked on that beast for a long time. It was not quite ready by the time I turned 16 so I drove Mom's old Chevy Caprice Classic. The thing was a boat and so not a guy magnet. But, it did give me a chance to go out on the weekends. Finally, June rolled around and we had the car finished. It was cherry red with new interior and enough power under the hood to be the envy of many teenage boys. My brother had put a cassette player in it and gave me his Sammy Hagar tape for the night. You know, you just gotta have "Red" and "I can't drive 55!" in when you're driving a car like that.

I headed to Auxvasse because I needed gas if I was going to make it to Mexico. My brother followed me up there and bought my first tank of fuel. He also told a boy from school he'd beat the crap out him if he touched my car. It was so funny. I can still see the scene in my head. The guy walked over, was going to lean against the car (trying to look all impressive) and then my brother pipes up. I loved it!

My brother and I parted ways at the gas station and I headed into Mexico. We used to have two Hardee's in Mexico - Hardee's East and Hardee's West. The cruising loop was from one to the other. Pretty easy to figure out by the line of cars going through the drives on the weekend. I jumped right in and made a couple of loops. I was beginning to wonder if I would even see anyone I knew. About that time, a girl from school hollered at me. The main problem, I discovered, was that I was driving a car no one had seen before, it was night and they couldn't easily see my face to know who was in there. I pulled over to say hi to the girl. I knew her face from school, but didn't really know her very well. Well, it turns out she was talking to three guys. Mike just happened to be one of them. This girl was trying oh so hard to impress a friend of Mike's. She was posing as a college girl when she was still in high school. I stood there a while listening to the two of them talk but could easily tell who I was attracted to. The quiet blonde guy who looked just as bored with that conversation as I was. Finally his friend realized no one else was talking (quite an accomplishment for him) and told us to talk already. So, Mike asked about my car. His friend rolled his eyes, not expecting a girl to know anything at all about cars. Mike and I began an hour long conversation about my car, his car, cars in general, what kind of work I had helped with, what kind of work he wanted to do on his Mustang. He had (actually still has in the shop) a 67 Mustang. It was a beast! It needed some body work, but mechanically it was more than sound. The night came to a close and all I knew was I met a great guy named Mike who drove a great yellow Mustang and I sure hoped I found him in town again sometime.

The summer passed quickly. I was working in the hay fields for my Dad. Mike was helping his Dad farm. Thankfully, Mike's best friend, David, was a huge Chevy fan. The next time I saw Mike in town I honked at him and waved. David fell in love......with my car. So that's how the summer went. Driving around, looking for the 'Stang with the cute guy and then spending the rest of the evening talking. I have no idea what we talked about all the time. I did learn he was a farmer who liked raising cattle AND he was 19. Uh oh...parental problems ahead. My parents had a rule that I couldn't date anyone more than 2 years age difference. Gonna have to figure a way around that one. In late August my aunt and uncle had a fish fry and Mom asked a cousin whose kids went to Mexico High if she knew anything about Mike. That's when she learned he was 19. We managed to negotiate that hurdle somehow without either of us having to throw any fits.

September rolled around and we still hadn't gone on a real date. Finally one night at the car wash David made him ask me out on a double date the next Saturday night. I knew I had my nephew's birthday party that evening but thought I could just bow out early and avoid too many questions. My sister made hot dogs and lots of other food for supper, but I was supposed to be meeting the guys at Pizza Hut. I think I ate about half a hot dog, fed the rest to their dog when no one was looking and hung around long enough to sing happy birthday. I slipped out and headed to town. During supper at Pizza Hut, I was trying to be all dignified and refined and cut my pizza with my fork and eat it with a fork only. The problem there was the crust was so hard I wasn't getting it cut and my piece ended up flying off my plate onto the floor. I was wishing I could just disappear at that point. Mike and David had a good laugh at me (and many more through the years). We went to the movie (no clue what we watched) and then cruised the loop a few times. I ended up asking if he wanted to go to homecoming with me the next weekend and the romance grew from there.

We dated all of my junior and senior years in high school. My senior year college planning was all based on Mike. I had an offer to play Division II basketball in Kansas City at a college, but it was too far from Mike. No way was he going to be moving west. I looked at schools near his grandparents in IL. Finally I settled on Mizzou because it was close. Not exactly the way you should choose a college.

In July, Mike and I went ring shopping. In early August, he called and asked if I wanted to go out to supper in Columbia and pick up the ring. I told my Dad I needed the night off from haying. I got all dressed up (yep, even wore a real dress) and Mike was all decked out when he picked me up. We went to Red Lobster for supper. While we were eating, the friend that he was with that first night walked over and said hi. I think he figured out what was going on, but didn't say anything. Of course, you don't have to be Einstein to know if the two of us are all dressed up and eating at a nice resturant SOMETHING must be up. I kept a close eye on the time because the ring shop was in the mall and I wanted to be sure we got there to get the ring that night. Mike, on the other hand, was dilly dallying around. When we got to the mall, he told me he needed to go to the bathroom before we went to the store! I'm sure the look on my face was utter shock! C'mon man, we're picking up an engagement ring. Work with me here! By the time he came back (completely planned timing) the gates to the mall were locked and we couldn't get in to the store. I suggested we just go up and explain to them and beg for mercy. He wouldn't budge. I began to rethink this whole plan. Was he really this stubborn? Didn't he know all that I had to arrange to get to come tonight? What was up here anyway?

We walked back to his car with me saying very little if anything. I was confused and yes, just a bit ticked at him. We got into the car, he leaned over and said he was sorry. I said, "Yeah, ok." He asked if I still loved him. "Yes, but my Dad is going to be so mad that I took off tonight just to go out to supper with you. We're trying to get hay made, in case you didn't notice!" I'm sure it took all that was within him to keep from bursting out in laughter at this point. He said, "So you still wanna marry me? Still love me?" When I looked at him and said yes, he pulled the ring out of his pocket and said, "Good thing I've got this for you then."

We got married the following June 16th. It's been a great life that God has blessed us with. I don't know why in the world, God chose to give me such an amazing man in my life. When we were engaged, I didn't think I could love him anymore. Then when we got married, I thought I was as deeply in love as I could get. At the births of our two sons, I thought that was the pinnacle of love. Now, I know, the love created by God between us just continues to grow, to deepen and to amaze me each day.