how i met your father

no-one but my daughters and maybe my grandchildren will be interested in this but i think it's blogworthy.

i first met wayne, dennis' brother, at a teen dance i regularly attended on friday nights.  it was march of 1956 and i was still just 15 years old but thinking i knew it all...normal thinking for most 15 year olds.  i liked wayne immediately because he was so sweet but never considered him "boyfriend" material, probably because he was the same age as me and i preferred older guys.

once while dancing with wayne, he pointed to a beautiful young man who stood swaying drunkenly in the doorway.  "that's my brother", said wayne.  "he gets drunk all the time and beats up his girlfriends".  you can imagine how disinterested i then was in his brother!  None of this was true, of course, but how was i to know when i could see that mr. gorgeous was obviously drunk.  

shortly after, my girlfriend, eleanor, and i were at my house when wayne phoned and asked me to go on a good friday hike with him.  normally i would have declined but eleanor and i were in a giddy, 15 year old mood so i agreed to go if eleanor could go also.

good friday arrived and i, decked out in cute ballet shoes just perfect for a hike in the snowy, march woods, walked out to the car.  dennis stepped out and ushered me into the front bench seat before wayne could get me into the back seat with him.  i was wary of dennis because of what wayne had told me but began to get a different vibe from him.  i sensed a gentleness and goodness about him...my esp at work.  i noticed his hard working hands...he worked with sheet metal at the time...and that seemed manly to me.

during the hike, dennis stayed close and even carried me and my cute ballet shoes over a stream.  he almost dropped me into it but managed to save us both.

dennis was quietly strong.  that's how i saw him then and that's how he always was his whole life.  he was dependable and reliable, something i needed in my life.  if he had a fault in my 15 year old eyes it was that he wasn't the best kisser but i taught him how to do it right.

no, he wasn't a drunk and seldom drank at all.  and, no, he wasn't a girlfriend beater because he was just too gentle a soul for that.  he married me when he was 20 and i was 17 and he entered fatherhood at 21.  he cared for all of us until the day he died on july 20, 2005.  

and that's how i met your father!

note:  i just read this beautiful quote and thought how well it fit here.

"just because it didn't last forever doesn't mean it wasn't worth it".