The Best Birthday Present (Originally posted on 3/30/08)

On Sunday, September 2, 1990, I went to church as usual but after church...I had a blind date. This date was arranged by some friends of mine who would tie my former life to my future life. God always has the perfect plan that we don't always see coming or understand even when it is unfolding before our very eyes. Let me explain how these friends of mine were a part of my former life and would be a vital part of my future. My ex-husband was a farmer who worked for a family that I had know nearly all my life and went to school with one of their sons. My ex-husband worked for this family and was very close to all the members of this family.

After, some hard times, the farmer got out of farming and his son had to find employment elsewhere. He found employment in Tennessee at a environmental company. During his employment there, he became good friends with the division manager. My friend/his employee told him that he had the perfect woman for him to meet when he felt that he was ready. However, the division manager had been married and had just gone through a very painful divorce himself. It took some time but he was finally ready to move on with his life and that was in late August of 1990. We were introduced on Sunday, September 2, 1990.

I was immediately attracted to this man and we connected right away. We were on a "double date" that day and I would have normally been nervous and shy but I was comfortable from the very beginning. We all laughed and talked for a couple of hours...but then it was time to say goodbye. I wasn't sure if I had made the same impression on him that he had made on me but I guess that I would just have to wait to see. We were walking out of the restaurant to my friend's car and he asked me if he could call me sometime to go to lunch. I told him that I would love that. Now after my previous track record in the dating world...I wasn't sure if he would call me or not...so I kept my fingers crossed and prayed he would.

On Tuesday, I received a phone call at work. I had already told the girls that I worked with about this good looking guy that I had met on Sunday, so when he actually called me at work....they were really giving me a hard time. He asked me if he could take me to lunch the next day, Wednesday and I told him that I would love to go. He picked me up at work and took me to Shoney's for lunch. We talked all through lunch and I don't think that I took two bites of my lunch but I was very smitten with this man. He told me that he knew on the Sunday that we met that if he didn't asked me for another date before I got in the car and drove off....he would not get the nerve up again. He was afraid that I would say "no", but he asked me out before I got in the car that Sunday and I never told him "no".

When he took me back to work after lunch, he asked me out for Friday night and I gladly accepted. He called me a couple of times at work between Wednesday and Friday and conversation was always so easy. We went to the movies and out to eat seafood on Friday night. I will never forget the movie that we saw together..."Ghost" with Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze. I cried a couple of times but he didn't seem to mind. He took me home and we talked until 3 AM. We had so much in common and I haven't ever been this comfortable with anyone before. We talked about what we believe family should be, church, being a Christian and what we wanted out of life. It was completely amazing to me that all that I had prayed for and told God that I wanted in a husband was sitting right in front of me now.

We continue to date...several times a week and every weekend. Some of those dates included my son and sometimes, he stayed with my mother. As things seemed to get a little more serious...I insisted that my son's father/my ex-husband start taking more responsibility and keep his son. I had taken full responsibility for my son for the past four years and it was time for me to have somewhat of a social life while he took responsibility for being father. By this time, I had met his two precious, beautiful girls and they had met my son.

My birthday was coming soon and the year that had been promised to me from God through our pastor as 'the best year of my life'....was certainly looking like it was going to be just that. By October 20th, 1990...I was on a trip to New Orleans with Roger. It was the best birthday ever, the best year of my life and without a doubt a blessing from God.

James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with who is no variableness neither shadow of turning.

These are pictures of Roger and I in New Orleans on my birthday...October 20th, 1990!