My Sweetie (part I)

At lunch with Dad and co-workers, April 1996

Our 5th wedding anniversary is Friday, December 2nd. This post will be about our history, but first about the picture: That's my anonymous My Sweetie on my left. My Dad is on my right, in yellow, flirting with My Sweetie's assistant. In the center back is my most favorite boss ever! He totally spoiled me for bosses. The guy directly behind My Sweetie was a GREAT co-worker, Matt. He's the one that showed me around my first day (January 6th 1995), so I've always given him credit for introducing me to My Sweetie. The last guy can kiss my ass. He was hired to "help" me. Didn't. Enough said. Dad had come to Texas to visit and help me with the party I threw for MS's 29th birthday. He actually took a cab into downtown just to have lunch with us that day. I thought that was pretty cool.

January 6, 1995 was my first day on the job in the advertising department at the corporate headquarters of a Now Defunct Compuer Retailer (NDCR). I was pretty excited and very nervous. I was going from being a one-person pre-press dept. at a printing company to a real dress-up corporate advertising graphic position. My specialty has always been Photoshop and imaging - basically preparing images for press. (That may be hard to believe, but my problem in this blog, is I do not have Photoshop on this Dell. My Photoshop is on my Mac over there and we have no means to transport files. I will have Photoshop on here soon, so I will be able to do fun stuff, Yay!) Anyway Matt introduced me to all the people in our department and then took me up 3 floors to meet the buyers as I would be working closely with them. I remember exactly what I said after meeting My Sweetie. Before I say what it was, realize that at this point I had probably been introduced to 20 or 30 people in a row. I said, "Wow I liked him, he seems cool." I did not know at the time that Matt and MS were good friends (co-worker wise) as both had been with the company since it started and was all on one floor. Well lunch was always a group affair for the designers. MS always joined us. He was the only buyer that lunched with us. I got to know him and he was very funny. I LOVE funny.

Okay this will sound bad, but I was married to husband #2 at this time. The marriage had been rather lifeless for some time. That's one of the reasons I took all those dance classes. Well at first MS and I were just good buddies. I would even sit in his cube and tell him about people at NDCR that I had flirted with, who I thought was cute, stuff like that. One day I was sitting there and I got this "Forest for the trees" flash. I thought "I think this is the person I've been looking for my whole life!" So I said, "Maybe you're supposed to be my next boyfriend. You've been right here all the time." He laughed and said, "I don't think so. You're too aggressive for me." I grabbed his umbrella and held it like a parasol, southern belle style and said, "But Sir, surely you know I'm just a sweet southern belle." From that day forward I decided to win him over.

A going away happy hour was going to be held for a guy on what I believe was Friday, April 14. I decided that this was going to be the day. I rushed home after work and changed into some sexy clothes. (I was lucky I lived only about 12 miles from work.) I rushed back and as I high-tailed down to the bar, I started passing some people heading back to the parking garage. I asked every single one, "Is "My Sweetie" still there?" I was afraid I had missed him. I got there and there he was! This was an indoor/outdoor party and eventually the weather started to turn. We left together (of course), running down the sidewalks as the rain started coming down in big fat splops. I said, "My van's right there, I'll drive you to your car." (He parked in a different lot.) As I was opening the passenger door, before I let him get in, I said, "You'll have to pay the toll. Then leaned in for a kiss." He kissed me and I ran around to the driver's side. The storm started really kicking up. We started kissing. In no time at all the rain and wind were just crazy. I remember thinking the weather was echoing my passion. We talked and kissed until the rain finally started to subside. I drove him to his car and drove home in a great mood. Apparently the storm had been much worse east of downtown. The next morning I discovered a giant tree in our backyard had blown over and found out that around the time I was kissing in my van, my Mom had been huddled in her bathtub waiting for a tornado. A weird day.

On May 30th, the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend, My Sweetie and I went to lunch alone. I told him that I was going to tell my husband that it was over that very night. MS said, "Well, I can't promise you anything." Not very encouraging, but I knew it was time. For some reason, husband #2 was very late coming home that night. My daughter was at her Dad's. I was stitting on the couch and said, "I need to tell you something. I'm not happy and I think I should move out." h#2 said, "Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I've been thinking that for a while." Then we hugged and cried and made dinner. We parted friends. After I was settled, he bought me a VCR and a gas grill. I thought that was sweet.

So now I was ready to really get to know My Sweetie.....