Debbie and I celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary today, Saturday, April 12th 2025.

I’ve been wanting to write “Our Story” for quite a few years now. However, I wanted it to be permanent and sharable, so naturally I chose my blog site. It is not only a story, but a love story and the importance of having patience and waiting for God, in His perfect timing, and not our own. Our story would actually cover decades while in the making. But before I can begin, I have to share what would “seemingly be insignificant events” in my life, beginning at sixteen. Every event is so very important, and would happen for a reason, and those reasons would be to eventually bring us together.

Our story will encompass, but touch lightly on the dissolution of both our families, which was sad at the time for all. Unfortunately, divorce happens, but it’s important to accept the ending of a marriage and concentrate on moving forward in a positive way. The best way I can describe this event in our lives would be to quote Psalm 30:5 “…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

We have faced obstacles, such as me losing two jobs, but nothing compares to the loss of Butch, which was devastating to all. Debbie finds this just too painful to discuss, but it had to be included. However, Debbie and I have always had each other for solace, during life’s trials.

The following story should not be considered the definitive story of our life together, but it’s a beginning. I truly believe I could write a book about our love story that is real, unlike a silly love novel, fabricated in someone’s mind.

The first time I saw Debbie was in 1970, while I was working after school at a local textile plant. I had no idea who she was, not even her name. She was not even aware of this until I began writing…and only this week!

I was 16 years old and needed an after school job. My brother, Phillip was working at Dover Mill during this time and helped me. But the job was only to last for two weeks. I would first need a car. I noticed a 1966 Dodge Dart at Dale Costner’s Car Lot in Lawndale. Everything was good, with the exception that someone had taken out the AM radio, and the gas gauge didn’t work. It was definitely not the car I wanted, but was the only car that I could afford, at that time.

I financed the car through Union Trust Company, a local bank in Lawndale, but only after my Dad co-signed the $500 loan. It was actually pretty strange that I’d enter into such an agreement and with a job that would last only two weeks. But I would have to have this car if I was going to meet “or should I say” see Debbie for the first time.

Please keep reading, as again, all of these “seemingly” insignificant things will soon be understood and everything will come together, like pieces of a puzzle.

First day on the job:

On the following Monday afternoon at precisely 3:02 PM, I would leave Burns High School for my first day on the job. I was shown around my work area for a couple of days by the high school guy that would soon be gone for two weeks. After a few days of happy thoughts, I began to wonder what I was going to do after the two weeks were complete. I just put this out of my mind, as God would take care of this, or maybe, I was a bit like Alfred E. Neuman: “What, Me Worry?“

The beautiful girl in a red Camaro:

I had to go outside the plant for something one afternoon, but little did I know this was a divine event, as God showed me the girl I would one day marry. So, while I was outside the plant, I saw a really great looking girl driving a beautiful 1968 red Camaro, with a Poodle on her lap. She drove out from Randolph Road, and onto highway 226. I had a strange feeling in my stomach when seeing this girl, which left me a bit unsettled. However, I would go back into the plant and resume my job, and the girl in the red Camaro, was now just a memory, but a memory that would be long lasting.

I was now into my second and final week of work and my time was running out. But on Thursday of my last week, my supervisor asked me if I’d like to have the job for the remainder of the school year. I said yes. What a great feeling it was to know that my job would last through the rest of the school year, and into the summer, if I so desired.

Paying off my debt and having the title to my car:

I would work another job for a short period on Saturday mornings at Kendall Elastics. This job was working with a few other school kids on Saturday mornings, cleaning up the weave room and other areas of the plant. I would then work my regular job at Dover Mill, from 12:00 noon till 6:00 PM.

I was able to make all of my monthly car payments by carefully budgeting my earnings. And, in less than a year, I would go to Union Trust Company for the last time to make my final payment. I made my payments in person, despite having a checking account. But this time, I would receive the title to my car. It was a happy day for sure and a long time in coming.

But what about the beautiful girl in the red Camaro? Please be patient…

Two families would soon be no more…

Time passed, and both Debbie and myself lived our lives, totally unaware of what each other was doing. We were two families living our separate lives, raising our boys, going on vacations and all the other things that families do. However, neither family and all involved realized that their time as a family would soon be coming to an end, and “strangely” both families at almost the same time.

A chance meeting many years earlier on a cold and wintry evening at a local drug store, would one day be the catalyst for a phone call…

It was a cold, wintry and dark evening after work in the early 80’s. I went into a local drug store and Debbie was there also. At this time, I now knew who she was, as I would meet her at a previous event. Debbie was dressed incredibly nice, with a short dress and high-heel shoes. She had the most beautiful blue eyes I’d ever seen. Her eyes were not only beautiful, but so very kind.

I would never forget this chance meeting. However, I now know this was not just a chance meeting, but I’ll share more about this toward the end of our story. More years would come and go, and both Debbie and myself would continue living our lives and never seeing each other for years. However, during the summers of 1988 and 1989 respectively, our paths would cross again on two different baseball fields. During the end of the summer in 1989, we would find out that we were both divorced.

The memory of seeing Debbie in a drug store on a winter evening, so many years earlier would continually be in the back of my mind. This was actually like a small glowing ember, but many years later would begin to grow. From that chance meeting, I would remember my thoughts and feelings, which would inspire me to call Debbie on a stormy Saturday night in September, 1989.

On September 22nd 1989, Hugo would cause significant amounts of damage in the county. The eye of the hurricane would actually travel over Shelby, which was very unusual for a hurricane, this far inland. The next weekend, I would call Debbie for the first time on a rainy Saturday night (September 30th 1989) and ask her for a date. We decided or agreed on Friday, October 6th, and on our first date we went to Nakato’s Japanese Restaurant in Charlotte.

However, our time was still not yet to be...

Unfortunately, there were times we would go our separate ways and even date other people, but we would always find our way back to each other. However, in the winter of 1994, I was driving home from work one afternoon with the sun almost setting below the horizon, but for some reason…

….and for some strange reason, I turned onto a road that I’d never driven on before. I could see a lone cyclist in the distance, all bundled up with extra clothes. I thought it was getting a bit too late and dim for someone to be riding. So, I would pull up beside the cyclist and was taken aback when I saw….it was Debbie!

And from that day or evening, we have been a couple, and would never part again. The past 13 years, since the time of our retirement, we have been almost inseparable, and have enjoyed every minute of it. I’d say probably the only times we are apart would be when I’m riding my bicycle and I can hardly wait to get back home. She and Sophie are always waiting for my return….really!

Our time would finally come….

So meeting Debbie on a road…a road I’d never taken before, caused me to think about a quote I’d once read, so many years ago.

“We often meet our destiny on the road we took to avoid it” and so on April 12th 2000, we were married. And that was 25 years ago today: Saturday, April 12th 2025.

April 2025: