July 1987. I was still in training at Florida Express Airlines in Orlando. Tim was a pilot there. My roommate (whom I had flown with before at another airline) was a flight attendant. She and her boyfriend broke up, and when Tim heard about it he invited her out to the beach, where he lived, to have a few drinks. He told me later that he thought he might "get lucky". Hmmm.....Anyway, my roommate, "E", brought me along. She wasn't really interested in anyone else, still hung up on the ex, but didn't want to sit home. So we went. "E" was Italian, really into the big hair thing, and dressing "right" and all that other fun stuff. Which I wasn't so much into. So, "E" had me wear this yellow jumpsuit thing of hers (it was the 80's!!) and did my hair all up and off we went. I don't really remember Tim making a big impression on me, other than that I thought he was funny and he made me laugh. As we were leaving, he asked me if I wanted to go out sometime and I said sure.
The first date: . "E" was flying, so she didn't do my hair....I was just myself, wearing my own clothes. I waited for Tim to get there. And waited. And waited. I was about to head off to my car and go somewhere (anywhere) so I wasn't home when and if he ever showed up or called, when he finally knocked on the door. I opened it and there he was, with a beer in his hand. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Wow. You're cuter than I remember". It's a good thing for him that I was really hungry and wanted him to buy me dinner or I might have just slammed the door in his face. Let's just say that he wasn't off to a great start. We went out to a Japanese steak house and I remember that I was very impressed that they wrapped my leftovers in tinfoil in the shape of a swan. Then he took me to a gay biker bar. Uh huh. Really. (I don't think he knew it was a gay biker bar) I put my glasses on so I could see the menu (and look around), and he told me I looked like a schoolteacher. So I told him that was OK, he looked like a used car salesman. He laughed and then he told me that all of "you flight attendants" just wanted to marry a pilot and have kids. I told him that he didn't need to worry about that because no one would want to marry him because his kids would look like Cabbage Patch Dolls. Ah, memories. Love at first sight.
The truth is that Tim has always been able to make me laugh. He didn't make a great first impression, but in the years since then he has proven himself to be honest, faithful, loyal, kind, caring, fun and loving. He is my best friend. He is a wonderful father. I truly cannot imagine my life without him.
These photos are from our "honeymoon" to Grand Cayman (which was about 3 years after we were married)...another story for another day.
Tim making me laugh...as usual.
Kook
Happy Anniversary, honey. I love you!
