by Becky Lane

Created on: September 07, 2008

Did I ever tell you how I met my husband? When I first got to the University of Texas, I took a job in my dorm's cafeteria. I had only been there a short time when my roommate caused an embarrassing incident. She was quite the head-turner, with glossy hair falling down past her tuckus. She was also very nearsighted, but too vain to wear her glasses. When going through the cafeteria line together, I had to describe the food choices to her, since she was unable to see them. One Sunday, she looked up at the guy serving us, and said in her deep, sultry voice, "Hey Gordon, that was some date we had last night." I jabbed her with my elbow, but was ignored. She leaned forward, and dropped her voice even further. "I had a really, really good time!" "Ahhem! Pardon us please," I said, then shoved her down the line, growling "That wasn't Gordon you idiot, that was John!" Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw John staring at us, with a cocky grin on his face. "Well, great!", I thought. "Another one bites the dust."

The oddest thing happened though. Usually, when working in the kitchen, I cleared trays that came down the conveyer belt. Suddenly I began finding little notes on them, and when I glanced out the tray-feed window, I saw the same, cocky grin. The notes were fairly corny (under a bowl of peaches I found one that read "What a peachy girl!") but I've always been rather fond of corn. Top it off with a mischievous grin and twinkling eyes? Well, I was a goner in no time.

* * * * *

Looking back on our years together, I see a certain seasonality to the stages of a marriage. I call it the circle of love. The first stage was the idyllic one - he's wonderful, I'm wonderful, and everyone's deliriously happy. Some call it the honeymoon stage, and for us, it truly was. John took a job overseas at the end of my junior year. Neither of us was any good at expressing our feelings, and not a word had been mentioned about marriage, so I feared this move might be the end of us. As it turned out, we happened to be superb letter-writers. We made up for lost time by pouring our hearts into those letters, and soon felt closer than ever. John also discovered that adventures are better shared. We married the minute I graduated, and set off on a three year honeymoon. Since ex-pat wives weren't allowed to take jobs in Indonesia, I spent my days turning our thatched-roof bungalow into a cozy nest, entertained his friends from my improvised kitchen, and waited with bated breath for hubby

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