How exactly did a small town girl from Kansas ever meet a city boy from the burbs of Ohio?

I moved to Ohio in 1992.  My boyfriend, who I lived with, had just joined the Navy and was going to go to bootcamp and school in Illinois north of Chicago so instead of staying behind in Kansas we decided it made more sense for me to move to southern Ohio with my grandmother so I could be closer, and we would be able to see each other more easily.  On my way from Dayton to Coalton I had a car accident and totaled my car, which is important because my grandmother lived in a small village that had zero employment opportunities without a car.  After living with her for several months and living off a small savings and tax refund I knew I needed to move and find a job, so I moved to Columbus with my first stepfather.  While living with him I reconnected with a childhood friend named Tracy.  We went to kindergarten together and I lived behind her in the Woodcliff condos in Whitehall.  Tracy had the perfect job opportunity for me at the Express DC where she worked.  I interviewed in June and started in July after the 4^th of July Holiday.

When I started at Express I lived on the west side of Columbus and worked on the Morse Road campus but still did not have a car so Tracy would shuttle me back and forth from home to work and work to home, even though it was out of her way.  She had also had surgery on her foot so when I started, she was currently on medical leave.  This is important because she would get to the DC early to pick me up and began to notice that night after night (we worked on 2^nd shift) there was ALWAYS the same guy walking out right behind me, because she had already been working there for a while, she knew exactly who this guy was.

When Tracy returned to work after her medical leave, she was not in my department, but we did have our breaks at the same time and what do you know the same guy that used to follow me out at nights was now always conveniently on a forklift waiting at the end of a main aisle we all walked down to get to the breakroom.  Tracy would give me a hard time about this guy having a crush on me, I was oblivious to it all because I had a boyfriend I had been with for over 3 years at this point.

By September of 1992 I was settling into a routine and finding a group of friends both at work and outside of work, but something very crucial happened in September, the guy who seemed to have a crush on me moved to my department as a group lead.  By this time I knew who he was, sort of, I knew his name (Larry) and what department he worked in (flat prep) and now he was gonna be working in my department.  I wish at this point I could say it was love at first sight and we lived happily ever after but that was not how it was.  I mean he seemed nice enough and we got along but again I already had a boyfriend, although by this point, I was starting to question the relationship, not enough to end it just enough to have doubts creeping in.  So that is how we officially met……Larry came to my department as a group lead and I was a clerical.  On his first day he was introduced to everyone as a group. 

So now Larry and I worked in the same department and as the days went by and we got busier at work, working longer days and even weekends, we spent more time together.  All the while getting to know each other with no pressure, I had that boyfriend which Larry obviously knew about because we talked about him, and Larry was not the kind of guy to make a move on someone who had a boyfriend.  So, the friendship just developed, but it happened quickly, we had a lot in common. We both loved music, movies and books.  We graduated the same year, albeit 1000 miles apart, but still it meant we had similar life experiences.  So yeah, we became fast friends and tried to spend as much time hanging out and talking as we could get away with at work.  Little by little I found myself falling for Larry all the while trying to convince myself that I wasn’t, but there were 4 very specific things that happened that made this impossible.

First was when I was having car problems and needed someone to give me a ride home from work.  I made my way back into the building a little after midnight hoping someone was still there that I knew and would be willing to drive me to the other side of town.  I did find someone but was surprised at my own disappointment when it WASN’T Larry, he had already left for the night.  What a shock to the system that was.  How on earth could I be so disappointed about something as simple as a car ride home with someone I had not known for long?  But it felt like I had known him forever and I enjoyed being around him and talking with him so much I just wanted more time to do that and a car ride home would have meant more time.

Second was after my boyfriend asked me to marry him and I realized I was more excited about talking to Larry about it than I was the engagement itself.  Now to be clear I wanted to talk to Larry about it because there was music involved and that love of music we both had was bonding us in ways I wasn’t expecting but still the irony of wanting to share this with Larry was not totally lost on me.  It was also then that I had my eyes fully opened to the fact that he was feeling the same way about me.  His reaction to my engagement story was mostly disappointment and try as he might that disappointment was not hidden very well.

Third was driving home one night after work and the song November Rain was playing and all I could think about was wanting to know where this “thing” with Larry might go if I didn’t get married.  The pull of the song and the moment itself (driving home alone in the dark and rain with nothing but my thoughts) became almost too much but it was in that moment that I think the decision was made, even if it was a subconscious thing at this point.

Fourth was Tracy telling me I need to leave my boyfriend (fiancé at this point) stay in Ohio marry Larry and have babies.  I guess she saw something there from the beginning because she was almost obsessive about getting Larry and I together.

So, I took that leap of faith, on November 19,1992 just a few short months after meeting and decided to see where this journey with Larry might take me and the fact that we have shared over 30 years together tells me it was the right choice.  When I think of all the random things that happened to bring Larry and I together I go back and forth between “we were destined to be together” or “we were so lucky to find each other”, but no matter how you look at it, whether it was fate or luck, the only thing that ultimately matters is we did find each other and  if you are lucky enough to find someone who makes you believe in the power of love and makes you feel like your love story is the greatest love story of all time then you are truly a lucky person.  I see this commercial a lot lately for a dating site with the tagline “get who gets you” and it’s so true.  Find someone who encourages all your weirdness, quirks and idiosyncrasies or at least tolerates them and doesn’t try to make you into something you are not.  Find someone whose weirdness, quirks and idiosyncrasies speak to you and make you want to be around them.  These are the things that we should celebrate in each other, the things that allow us to be uniquely us, the things that bring us together and for Larry and I a lot of that revolves around music.  I feel like music is a big part of what brought us together and what continues to bring us back to each other over the years.  Here’s to the next 30 years of weirdness and music that is uniquely ours.