When Val met Joanie

Most kids love to hear the story about how their parents met and fell in love.  Laura and I were no different, and would often ask them to tell us over and over.

Me: So tell us again how you guys met?

Dad: Ohhh, your mother!  She came to Finney as a substitute teacher.  I saw her walking down the hallway with her long dark hair and hoop earrings.  She was soooo pretty!  So I waved to her, like this (He smiles and wiggles his fingers like a little boy).  Do you know she just walked right past me with her nose in the air!

Mom: I wasn’t wearing my glasses!  I didn’t see you.

Dad: Hmmm.  Ok, if you say so.  Anyway, I kept asking your mother out and she kept turning me down.

Mom: I let you take me on that one date to the track.

Dad: (chortles)  Girls, your mother finally let me take her out and I took her to the Hazel Park race track.  But it started pouring rain and then I couldn’t find my car…

Mom: He left me standing under an awning for half an hour while he searched for his car.  He looked like a drowned rat by the time he picked me up.

Me: And you let him take you on a second date?

Dad: We were friends.  All of the teachers went out after work and got together on the weekends.  I knew I wanted to be with her but I had to wait till she came around.

Mom: He finally wore me down after four years.

Me: Four years?

Dad: Your mother always thought she would be with some tall, blonde and handsome Polish guy, not some little old shit like me!

Mom: Thankfully, I listened to my heart and married my best friend instead.

There’s nothing particularly unique or intriguing about this story, but I was always captivated by their tale.  I love it for its simplicity and innocence.  I love it because it served as a model for my sister and me when we found our life partners.

My parents had a pillow on their bed that was stitched with the quote “Happiness is being married to your best friend.”  Nothing could be more true.

0 thoughts on “When Val met Joanie

  1. Laura

    And lets not forget that he flooded her apartment kitchen while doing the dishes, glued ashtrays to her table, crashed and totaled her car…etc etc.

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