It happened at a Christmas party at work. My boss decided it was time for us to meet. My boss worked next to your mom area so he knew her well. We were both in the computer software development for the U.S. Army and worked in the same building. We both lived in a small town south of Richmond, VA.
My boss’s name is Earl. He approached me at the party and said “Don follow me right now”. I being a good soldier followed Earl. It was very crowded as we passed many people going from room to room. He took me to the room where they had the giant Christmas tree displayed. I didn’t know why he was taking me through this maze. But there standing in front of the tree was a beautiful oriental girl. I look at her and realized what Earl was up to. After he introduced us to each other, he quickly left the room. As if he was saying “I did my mission and let the chemistry begin”.
When she first spoke to me I wasn’t expecting to hear the most soothing and wonderful southern bell voice that I ever heard. To this day I just love listening to your mom’s voice. Your mom and I talked for a while. She was so friendly to me. But soon I found out that she had to catch a plane back to her home town of Memphis for the holidays. I told her that I was going to visit my family in Lakewood, Colorado. We went out to the hallway and said Merry Christmas and good bye.
Earl asked me when I got back if I called your mom for a date. At that time I was extremely shy about dating anyone so I said no. He said why it’s been three weeks since Christmas vacation. And then he said “are you crazy”. I work my best under pressure so I said “Yes, I would soon”.
I called your mom and asked her if she would like to go out to dinner. To my surprise she said no. I was in a state of shock for a few seconds. She came to my rescue by saying how about a movie instead. Later when we were dating she explained that she had a bad experience when going out to eat with someone.
It was winter and the roads were icy. So I carefully drove my Mazda RX-7 sports car to her apartment. I wore my very unhandsome for a first date my flannel shirt, bellbottom cords and hiking boots. Later after we knew each other, she said that was not a good impression for a first date. I am so glad to know that mom taught you well in the clothes department, for I cannot be a good roll model for you until I met your mom.
We went to a movie that had a lot of foul language in it. I thought I was a goner after that. But your mom just gave me a look and chuckled as if to say without words that there was no way of me knowing that about the movie. Believe it or not it was a few years before the Internet so things like playing the trailers was out of the question! After she smiled I felt relieved.
After the movie she said that we should get something to eat. I was befuddled with the request because of her earlier comment. Later I found out that your mom felt comfortable with me. We went to a diner called Friendly’s. She said ice cream would be nice. The waitress could see that we were just dating and she was especially nice and almost like she missed those days of her younger years. We chatted until our ice cream was gone and I drove her home to her place. Later she told me that I was a perfect gentleman the whole evening. I drove home feeling like I was on cloud nine.
Earl was anticipating my full report the next day. He is such a character so I confessed that it was wonderful. A few months later he asked me if I asked your mom to marry me yet. When I said no, he said “are you crazy, what are you waiting for?”. I heard that before and just laughed!
