How did you meet your partner?

In the summer of 1992 I attended a week long festival, the International Thespian Conference in Muncie Indiana at Ball State University. I was sixteen years old.

Five thousand plus high school students, mad about the stage and otherwise the freaks of their schools, descended upon their Mecca. This week was a haven amongst mainstream popular high schools culture. It was Disney Land for Drama Club. Hormones, being what they are in high school, added a heightened element of excitement. Yes, we all got to spend one week relatively unsupervised with thousands of members of the opposite sex who all share in common the love for theater. Forget Disney Land, try Nirvana.

I'll forgo the details of the first three days...

On the morning of day three I entered the campus cafeteria and stepped in line for breakfast. There was another line across from me and mirroring my position was a beautiful blue eyed brunette who captured my total attention. I don't know that she noticed me. However, after getting my breakfast and glasses of OJ, milk and water, I sat down at a table with some of the students from my particular high school and I began to eat. Only a moment passed before this girl I spied in line was sitting across form me, smiling. She too had three beverages OJ, milk and water.

Evidently she, Linda, connected with some of my class mates earlier on and felt comfortable eating with them. Today I know that she did spy me in line not knowing that I was apart of the clan she decided to hangout with. She said to Aaron, "I have got to meet that guy", meaning me. Aaron replied aghast that his advances were not hitting their mark.  He replied, "Oh, that's our S.A.G, Self Appointed God." I little nick name they gave me. Linda blew that off and Aaron and the others informed her that I'll most likely be joining them in just a moment and she'll get her chance to meet me.

We quickly acknowledge the rarity of two teens abstaining from carbonated sodas. We found a common background. We were both raised LDS aka Mormon. We discovered we both loved Pink Floyd. In fact in only moments after meeting each other we somehow rounded up a cassette player and a copy of The Wall, headed out side, found a tree to sit beneath and enjoyed each others new energy and presence. We shared our first kiss under this tree with Pink Floyd's Young Lust as the sound track for this priceless moment.

We were in separable for that moment for the next four days.

I was learning to play Pink Floyd, The Wall from cover to cover on guitar. There was a little music store right off campus so we went there and I played my heart out for Linda for an hour or so.

Parting was cruel but unavoidable. She lived in New York and I in Texas. Our hearts were sick with grief. I had never gotten that close with anyone. We wrote to each other actual hand written letters for nearly a year. No email or internet at the time. Phone calls were too expensive. After a year we wrote less often, three or four times per month. We talked on the phone as often as possible. I remember sitting in my mothers car talking on her big brick of a cell phone because minutes were cheaper or free after a certain time.

The story goes on. We had a misunderstanding that created a gap between us for 4 years after which we got married in 1999.