It is funny the things you learn about your family over the years. I grew up thinking my parents had a conventional courtship and marriage. I mean, they look conventional and all. They look relatively normal. Who would have guessed my mom was a stalker?
Yes, a stalker.
I said it.
When I was up at my cousin Debbie's house over the weekend - my family and I had gone up there for my aunt Marge's memorial service - my parents and her got to talking about how they met and all that good stuff. Well I always knew that my parents had met at college. But I thought they dated in college, too. I was wrong. It seems my mom and dad DID meet in college, but they didn't date there. My mom, according to my dad, was dating several guys back then (including some skin divers - my mom was a player too! hehe), but only was friends with my dad. It wasn't until my dad left for the army that they started dating. But it wasn't in the usual, "let's go out for pizza and a movie" kind of thing. No. That would be too simple. My mom, being the stalker she was, found out my dad's address in the army. She didn't say how. I don't know if she asked a friend of his or if she took matters into her own hands and somehow found it. But she found his address and they started writing back and forth and formed a relationship via the US Mail.
Well, eventually, somehow the subject of marriage was brought up - by my mom, according to my dad - and my dad ended up buying my mom an engagement ring. But he just couldn't wait to give it to her, so he - and I am not making this up - MAILED it to her. Yes, he mailed it to her. Now the price tag on the ring is subject to some debate. My mom says it was like $37.50 and my dad says it was more like $130 (which was a lot of money back in the day). So no one is quite clear on just how much the ring cost, but the diamond fell out of it...twice. My dad joked around and was saying that that should have been a warning sign (my dad is so funny). So anyway, after my dad finished up the highway patrol academy, they got married in Reno, Nevada at a small chapel, and over 35 years later, they are still married.
I guess love will find a way. Even through the US Mail.
I now joke with my mom, calling her "the stalker" or the "mail order bride." She just laughs and says, "Oh Kim." My mom is funny too.
I would have never, not in a million years, guessed that my parents hooked up though some paper, envelopes and postage stamps.
No. Not in a million years.
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2 comments:
That is a great story! OMG...my father was the stalker in my Mothers case. The first night the met, his cousins ditched him after a night og drinking and my Mother had to drive him home....40 miles round trip. The were both still living at home at the time. Then a few weeks later, he was drinking again out in the country...and the party got busted (he was just underage) so he took off running without his new shoes on...because he had taken them off and was sitting on someones car. He ended up back in town, sitting on my Mom's car when she got off of work. She had to take him back out to look for his shoes. I told my mother..those were her first two clues that the man was a nut. Didn't stop her though...he was FUN...he was WILD...he has never grown up.
LMAO - oh the things we learn about our parents! Parents are so weird! But I suppose when I have kids, they will think I am weird too - hehe
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