Young Adult Tales 1--Courtship

I have a new project, a continuation of Mommy's Piggy Tales, this time about our Young Adult Years. It's a more write-whatever-you-want kind of deal, so today I've chosen to record my courtship (at least the beginning of it) with Hubby. In the summer of '96, I started law school. For whatever reason, this school starts one section of its students in the summer, so there were about 80 of us on the law school campus. Y'all, it was like summer camp. Until it hit me about 6 weeks in that, um, we're going to be tested on this stuff! But I digress. The point is, with only 80 people, we all got to know each other. No, this isn't where I want to start, let's try this again.

In the spring of 1996, I was a senior in college. I had been admitted to several law schools but was waitlisted at another. One day, the dean of admissions from the waitlist school called me and offered me a spot in the section starting in the summer. For a number of reasons, including starting in the summer, I chose to go to that law school. So one week after graduating from college, I started law school.

My mom drove me to law school and I met a few students when I reached the quad. I met a few more students when I went to get my ID. I met several girls when I moved into the dorm. Then I met a bunch of people on Orientation Day. The day after Orientation, day 2 of law school, was Service Day. We all went over to a nursing home. Oh and we were told to wear old clothes you could get dirty. Now of course I packed light for law school so I didn't exactly bring a bunch of rags with me. So I wore a sweatshirt I'd bought 4 years before when I was looking at colleges. In other words, I was wearing a college sweatshirt from a school I DID NOT GO TO. Bad idea! All day long, every one of my new classmates asked me, "Did you go to {school A}?" People who asked me that early in the day got the long answer "no, I almost did, I got this when I visited but yada yada yada I went to {school B}." That got old real fast so if you asked me late in the day you got the succinct "no, I went to {school B.}"

The first time I met Hubby, I don't actually remember. As he tells it (cuz he's a sweetie), he saw this cute girl (me) in a {school A} sweatshirt and so he initiated a conversation, knowing several of his high school friends who'd gone to {school A}. We were standing near the elevators and he says hi and asks me if I went to {school A.} It was late in the day so I said, "no, I went to {school B.}" As he didn't know anyone who went there (I'm not even sure he'd heard of the school), that was the end of the conversation and I got on the elevator and he was bummed.

The second time I met Hubby was a few days later. This time I remember our meeting but he doesn't. ;-) It was at a party on the quad. I met him and two other guys at the same time, we only talked for a few minutes.

So then we start classes and formed our cliques and so forth. Then a bunch of us girls started going to church together on Sundays. One Sunday as mass was starting, we noticed Hubby sitting by himself a few rows over from us. So we asked him to join us. From then on, he was in our little Catholic going-to-church group.

Okay, so when I started law school, I flirted with everybody. But I really didn't think about Hubby because the word about him was "he wanted an undergrad."

Second semester started in the fall. Hubby sat behind me in one of my classes and one day at the end of class as we were all leaving, he tapped me with his pen and said goodbye or see ya later or whatever. I noticed because you know we all saw each other all the time (we were still having all of our classes together as a section), so it was strange to have such a pointed, personal goodbye.

One day, I went shopping with friends, an engaged couple I'll call Jack and Jill. I mentioned that I thought this guy (I'll call him Joe) was funny. They cautioned me away from him (thank you, he was totally a player) and Jill said, I kid you not, "like Hubby." As a command. I was all, no, he likes undergrads. Then Jack explained he thought that was just a put-on so he doesn't get pulled into the whole "who do you like?" pairing up thing. Hmmmm, I thought. Well, he did tap me with a pen the other day. And we all thought hmmmm.

So then I saw him with fresh eyes. I started listening to him talk at dinner in the dining hall and I found him more interesting than I'd previously thought. I remember we had some conversations around campus and then came Rock 'n' Bowl. It was a Thursday night and our section went bowling. Several times that night, Hubby came over and visited me at my lane and I went over to his lane and I guess we started flirting that night.

The next night, Friday, was movies on the quad. I was in a friend's room and telling her I was starting to like Hubby and she agreed he was a good guy. Then the movie started so I went down to the quad and found some friends, including Jack and Jill. The movie was "Babe" (about the pig) and we were having a fun time and I thought how much I'd like for Hubby to be sitting next to me. I even wished it on a star. I kid you not. I did the whole "star light, star bright" rigmarole and wished that Hubby would sit next to me.

As Hubby tells it, he had a couple beers in his fridge so he grabbed them and headed down the quad toward a friend's room, then he noticed the movie was playing. He saw someone he could sit with but a voice told him to keep walking. Then he spotted me and my group--and he joined us! {So my wish came true!}

So we watched the rest of Babe together, then the second movie was something James Bond and I made snarky comments all through it, which Hubby tolerated so that was a good sign.

Saturday we ran into each other on the quad and were talking and I could hear my phone ringing so we went up to my room and Jill had left a message about going to a movie that night (a plan already in the works, she was just letting me know time and movie) so I turned to Hubby and invited him along and he agreed--so this was our first double date with Jack and Jill.

Following the movie, we all made plans to go to Cracker Barrel the next night, so we did that Sunday night and at some point Hubby said the movie Braveheart was like an epic poem and I had to see it, so we made plans to watch that together the next Wednesday.

Between Sunday and Wednesday we walked and talked a lot. Wednesday rolled around and I had second thoughts about our date. But then I thought "{Hubby} makes me smile."

So he came over to my room to watch the movie and long story short we stayed up all night talking (yes, talking, no funny business). It was a magical night and the start of it all. We got engaged a year later, married a year after that. 12 years next week. For many years, we celebrated the anniversary of "Braveheart night" by rewatching the movie.

There you have it, how I met my husband. It's a really long story but I tried to keep it short, hopefully not too short to lose it's magic. Go to Mommy's Piggy Tales to read more stories from our Young Adult Years and come back here next week when I'll be talking about... I have no idea! Stayed tuned! ;-)

Tell me, how did you and your husband meet?