How I chased him til he caught me OR How my mother picked out my future husband

Brian's story of how he and his wife met (very amusing) http://bpnblog.theobloggers.org/?p=107 inspired me to tell my version of how my DH and I met . It's not as cute as Brian's story, but Bob shared his version at a Sunset International Bible Institute Dinner Thursday night; his version and my mother's differ with my own, so I want to set the record straight. (My version differs only slightly.)

Feel free to share how you met your mate here, or blog it and link it to mine!

I was a student at Lubbock Christian College, sophomore year, spring. My parents had moved to Lubbock the previous summer so that my dad could become a student at Sunset School of Preaching. My mother worked in the school office and handled applications. One caught her attention because his name was the same as someone else my parents had met. She told me about him. (No, Bob, she didn't show me your picture.) Hmm, a preaching student. How to meet him? (The first time I saw him, but didn't meet him on that day, he was nodding off in chapel. A future preacher sleeping in "church"!)

LCC's spring break came the week before Easter. My friends and the guy I was dating (no spark) were all out of town. So I decided that I should visit Sunset to "see what the classes were like there." Sunset students didn't take a break that week. Dad took me to the freshman classroom and introduced me to some of those guys. When Bob walked by the group, I introduced myself. I kept going back all week. It took me a whole week of hanging around to "see what it was like." And somehow I didn't visit my dad's classes, just the class of new freshmen (several were single!).

But no date! Bob had decided to concentrate on studies at SSOP, not on women. He also had a girlfriend (sort of) back home. Even though I hung around all week and his classmates and teachers were teasing him, he didn't ask me out!

On Saturday, I helped arrange for the Sunset guys to play basketball at LCC. I invited Bob and his roommate to dinner afterwards. His roommate declined, but Bob came for the free meal. Still no date, though. On Sunday I decided to visit Sunset for worship (I was a member at Broadway). My brother had wrecked our shared car, so I asked Bob for a ride. Still no invitation for a date. In retrospect I can't believe how bold I was. Monday after Easter - should have returned to school. But LCC had given Monday off for student travel. Guess where I was! Back at Sunset.

Finally! That night Bob called and asked me out. It turned out that he had decided that if his CA girlfriend wrote him that weekend, he would not ask me out. But she didn't. And the rest is history.

Now, there's an interesting detail I like to tease my mother about (she denies this). There was a guy in Dad's class she wanted me to date, but I wasn't interested. At some point (I think after Bob and I started dating), I asked her why she'd picked out Bob since she liked this other guy for me. She told me she thought Bob was "one we could agree on." We still agree on him. Dad does, too.

A funny part of our early dating happened that week before our first official date: on a weeknight, Dad invited Bob to our house for a basketball game on TV (thanks Dad!). Bob's roommate had borrowed his car for a date, so I took Bob home afterwards. We sat in the car in front of the neighbor's house for a LONG time, talking and getting acquainted. Finally, it was very late and I knew I needed to be home, so I asked Bob to say a prayer. We were holding hands, heads bowed, eyes closed (really!) and Bob was praying when there was suddenly a pounding on the car window! It was my dad! Lubbock wasn't necessarily a safe place for a woman alone at night, so he had come looking for me. He had called Bob's house, but since we were parked in front of the neighbor's, Bob's roommate hadn't seen us. Bob says he was pretty embarrassed when he saw Dad at school the next morning!

So there you have it, the TRUE and somewhat boring story of how Bob and Pat met and became a couple. Thirty-two years, three kids and three grandkids, from TX to CA to NJ to FL later, we still are. Nathan is the only one in this picture who has changed. He was about two here; he turns six this week!

Thanks Mom!!