Sunday Story Time- In the Beginning...:)

Right before I stopped blogging The Annoyed Army Wife was starting a segment called " Sunday Story Time" and I thought it was a great idea! I have been "writing" since as long I as I can remember...journals, short stories, poems...blogging :)...I take a lot of personal enjoyment in putting my thoughts and dreams into printed words. I briefly looked over her site to see if she had continued this segment, and it seems that at least the last few Sundays she has not.I hope she doesn't mind me picking it up anyway!

I'm going to be somewhat predictable and start with a story about me and the Hubs. (And I'm unsatisfied with his alias so I think I'm gonna start calling him... Skunky. LOL and THAT has got a good story that I will save for another day!) I figure that starting with something basic, and a subject that most spouses find interesting, is safe. PLUS, most of you know only what I have posted on here in recent history...I'm the wife of a Submarine Sailor, we have two young children, and I am living through our first deployment. Ahhhhh...but where did it all begin? :)

I like to fancy myself with the idea that Skunky and I have one of those "epic" love stories. Which..it's epic to me and that's really all that matters. :) But it did take him almost 4 years to convince me I wanted to marry him! So just the time period is bound to add a little 'spice' into our love story!

The first time ever met Skunky, was at work. He was in his first year at the local college, and I was in the workings of going off to my school of choice on the other side of the country. We were both working at Wal-mart, me as CSM ( customer service manager) and he in Electronics. If you know anything about Skunky in real life, you'd know that this job was PERFECTLY suited to him. He's a pop culture junkie, and loves anything to do with music and movies. He's a slight nerd ( to any of you familiar with submarine life in the Navy, my husband is Nuc. Yes they are a special breed :)) though to look at him your first impression would to be that he is much more of a nerd then he is in reality. He's short ( 5'6") and skinny ( 130lbs....he was SO proud when he hit 150 after we got married. BUT...underways and deployment have taken their toll and he's back in the 130's again) and wears a pretty thick pair of glasses ( we have the exact same prescription!) Are you getting a good mental picture here? Add to all of that the fact that I'm positive he has ADHD ( though his mother never had the money to take him to a Dr. and get him diagnosed) and my first impressions of him were this small...really can't be described as anything but "squirrely" little...well boy at the time, and he really wasn't even a blip on my radar to say the least.

Technically I was his supervisor (but only because I handled any problems he had with his casher-register.) Strike one. And I knew he wasn't Mormon, because we had a small branch and my dad was Branch president. Strike two. Really...the poor guy had a lot to overcome in my mind before he was even aware that he might like me. Except for one thing...

The guy's personality is INFECTIOUS! You cannot help but like this man! He is giddy, and positive, and funny....your first impression of him is " man, this kid is a little weird" but after 10 minutes you are literally best friends! After a few months on the boat, I had a chief come up to me after an FRG meeting and ask " You're Skunky's wife?" "Yessss...?" " I have to tell you, your husband is literally the most well like guy on the boat. There isn't anyone I know of that dislikes him." Leave it to my husband to befriend 150 sailors in just the span of a few months. :)

Months went by before he actually got around to asking me out. I wouldn't find out until later that he had actually talked with one of his buddies ( who also happened to work at Wal-Mart) about me and this guy had in not so many words told him that I was out of his league! Boy have we had a good laugh about that now. :)

When he did finally get around to it though...is a memory I will always cherish.

It was morning before the store opened. I was at the podium organizing my cash for the day, getting my registers ready, and setting out the cashier schedule for the day. Every department that had a register and keys to any locked cases were required to come to me and get them before the start of their shift. I was used to seeing Skunky, and enjoyed his little chit-chat in the mornings when he would come to get his stuff.

I saw him zoom around the corner as usual ( he's a VERY fast walker) and pulled out his bag and keys and the clipboard for him to sign them out, and then went back to the task I was working on.

" Morning, Jenn."
" Hey, Skunky!"
" How ya doin'?
" Alright...hey it looks like we're gonna be a little short handed on cashiers today. You wouldn't mind coming up if I need you would you?"
" Yeah, sure, no problem. Hey uh,...I was wondering, do you want to go out sometime?"

Silence. I stopped writing and peered over the podium at him. He was, quite literally, only about 5 inches away from me. And he had stopped his normal fidgeting. He was standing stock still...he wasn't even blinking!

I felt the lump start in the pit of my stomach. Uuugh....I'm gonna have to break this kid's heart. I thought frantically for ways I could let him down softly, all the while he stood there, still, unblinking, the look of a man awaiting a death sentence. And I thought to myself...Jen, one date is not gonna hurt.

I stepped back...personal space was obviously and issue he had when he was nervous. " Um...sure, Skunky...that sounds like fun." I could hear the pitty in my own voice. I hoped that he couldn't...

Instant transformation. Big smile, exuding all of the pent up energy he had just boiling under the surface, bouncing from foot to foot again. " Great! Alright, I'll make a plan and get back to you!" he turned and zoomed back around the corner to his department, and I was left at the podium, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

He got back to me at the end of the day, and we made a plan for our first date the following week. But that is a story for another Sunday. :) Anyone up for seeing some a video of, years later, what would be the product of this awkward asking out?