We spent the month of August 1996 settling into our new house. It was our biggest house yet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a laundry area. Rob was of the age where he was crawling everywhere and getting into everything so baby proofing was a must. We finally felt like we had a handle on everything.
I heard a commercial on the radio one day advertising a "working dude ranch" not too far from El Paso. I love horses so I was very interested. John had 4 days off for Labor Day weekend so I called to make reservations. The girl was so sweet. She did specify that it was a working ranch but there were cabins to stay in, a pool to use, a babysitter for Rob while we were riding and we could even bring, Lady, our dog. It all sounded too good to be true. You know what they say, "if it sounds too good to be true it usually is" and we were going to learn that the hard way.
John got a pass for the weekend and we left early in the afternoon on Friday. The directions sounded easy enough. Drive out highway 9 into the desert for about 180 miles then turn into the driveway on the left. So we set the trip meter and off we went. Of course mile after mile in the desert it begins to look the same. Rob started getting a little fussy so we saw a building coming up. We pulled over there and while I fed Rob, John went to ask where we were. They tried to be helpful but they had never heard of the ranch. We set out again thinking that we hadn't driven far enough.
We drove and drove and drove....nothing. It was starting to get dark out and we were really getting worried. So we turned around and went back to the building we had found before. I fed Rob again and John used the phone to call the ranch and get better directions. Apparently we had went too far. The ranch owner said he would go out to the road and tie a red shirt to a tree next to the driveway. Finally a landmark! We just prayed we wouldn't miss it in the dark. For once luck was on our side we saw the shirt!
We turned off the highway onto a dirt road that seem a little overgrown. We looked at each and shrugged, it was late and we had come too far to turn back now. Suddenly we heard lots of loud barking and our Suburban was surrounded by dogs. That didn't make Lady very happy at all.
More to come.....
It felt like we had hardly unpacked at Ft Polk when we received orders to PCS to Ft Bliss. In truth the Army had given us 18 mos to make the turn around. We had to decide how to get 2 vehicles, one large dog, one 8 month old boy and 2 adults across the great state of Texas. We decided to use our large Suburban to tow our Saturn so that we could all travel together. Man, we packed the Saturn to the gills, added the necessities to the Suburban and then we all piled in. The packers and movers loaded up their truck and off we all went to El Paso.
We decided to take the northern route so our first stop was in Dallas. Yeah, it was real fun navigating a major city towing a car and hauling our crew. We ended up at what turned out to be a seedy motel. But the nice part was that we were able to pull the Suburban right in front of our door to keep an eye on it. John got up once in the middle of the night to check on everything and what did he see but a "lady" of the night walking down the sidewalk. You can believe that we bolted in the morning.
We had an uneventful night in Odessa, TX and then pulled into El Paso around noon the third day. It was the last Friday of the month and we really wanted to find housing ASAP. So our first stop was the housing office. Luckily for us they had a house available, as long as we were willing to do all the painting on the inside. We jumped on it since it was a single home with a great back yard. Rob and I spent the weekend at the hotel swimming while John and some of his buddies painted the house. Thank God for good friends.
Monday morning came, we check out of the hotel and went to the new house to wait for our household goods. The movers showed up before 10am and had everything unloaded by 5pm. Now the "fun" would begin. Box after box to be unpacked with a 8 mo old wandering around. It would be weeks before everything was in it's place.
It was Monday morning, April 29, 1996 at 9am. John had left for work and then the phone rang. It was John's dad and at first it seemed like he just wanted to chit chat...very unusual for him. Finally he said Mom had to be taken to the hospital late last night. She had suffered a massive heart attack and was in the ICU. He didn't have much more information but he was going to visit her and call us back.
Once I was off the phone with him, I called the ICU myself. The nurse couldn't have been nicer but the news wasn't good. She said that if John and I wanted to say our good byes we should leave immediately. I had her type up a report and fax it to John's unit while I called John and gave him the news. He was shocked just like me. He went to talk to his commander and I started packing for a road trip. By 11:30am John was home with the paperwork for 2 weeks of emergency leave. We had 2 adults, one 5 mo old baby and one dog and we were on the road by 12 noon.
We got to St. Louis by 12 noon the next day. We stopped at my folks house just long enough to say hi and drop off Rob before we headed to the hospital. The next 2 weeks pass by in a blurr. It was a fine balancing act between taking care of Rob and spending as much time as possible in the ICU. By the time John's leave was over his mom was out of the ICU and into a regular room. There was still a long road ahead of us.
John's mom was to come home and build up her strength to be ready for a quadruple bypass. John headed be to Fort Polk and I stayed behind with Rob to help and cook for John's mom. I fixed lunch and dinner every day and she would take walks and naps everyday. Things were going very smoothly and at the end of 3 weeks she was ready for surgery. The surgery went really well and I was finally able to reunite with John at Fort Polk.
It would not be for long. We received word that the whole unit was being moved to Fort Bliss in El Paso, TX.
Once I was recovered from my gallbladder surgery I was ready to go home to Fort Polk. Rob was 3 mos old, feeding well and sleeping through the night. Of course I think he was the best baby. He was calm and happy and smiled all the time. Once we were home everything slipped into a routine. Rob would wake up between 8 and 8:30, have breakfast, then he played in his play pen while I straighten up the house. Since we lived on post John was able to come home for lunch most days. Anytime John came home it was an event!
As soon as Rob would hear John he would start cooing, kicking his feet and waving his hands. He would not settle down until John picked him up...it was just too cute. Afternoons were spent swinging outside and then napping for a couple of hours. That let me get laundry done and organize dinner.
Things were moving along smoothly for 2 mos until we got a phone call. John's mom was rushed to the hospital and was in the ICU. Everything would change very quickly.
The first week of January 1996 marched on and I started feeling worse and worse. It all came to a head the evening of January 7th. I woke up at 2am with abdominal pains worse then labor. I was so scared and shaking so bad I couldn't even walk. So I crawled down the hallway to my parents room and woke them up. They got me out to the couch and then called 911. I don't remember much after that until I was actually in the room at the civilian hospital.
Apparently it was decided for me that Dad would go to the hospital with me and Mom would stay home with Rob. You will never know how much those decisions meant to me. I knew Rob would be safe, well fed and cuddled. And I knew that my Dad would take good care of me. He never left my side, gave me what comfort he could and asked the questions that needed asking.
At first they were afraid that something from the delivery had went wrong. I was only 7 weeks postpartum. I was still bleeding but not too heavy so they started testing. They did a complete blood work-up, pregnancy test(ya right) and x-rays. By the time all that was done the ultrasound department was open so they sent me as the first case.
By the time I got back to the emergency department they had their answers. Gallstones, lots of gallstones, and one was blocking the exit tube. I needed immediate surgery. The problem was that I was in a civilian hospital and since there was a military hospital within 50 miles I had to be transferred there. So Dad and I headed home.
Thank god for families. My sister came and helped Dad with Rob so Mom could take me to Scott Air Force base. I had brought all the tests results with me and by noon I was in surgery. The surgery went ok but they had a hard time waking me up. I ended up having to stay over night. That was hard because I was really missing Rob, even though I knew he was in good hands. Then when I got home I was too sore to hold him.
John and I talked it over and he hated that he wasn't there to help. But for the time being it seemed like I was where I should be so I stayed a few more weeks to recover. We couldn't wait to become a family again so hopefully time would go by swiftly.
Since my folks had come down and been here for the first week of December we weren't planning on going home for Christmas but things changed. I just didn't seem to be bouncing back like I should. I was having some abdominal issues that I thought were from the birth but I just couldn't shake them. So when Rob was 5 weeks old we decided to drive up to St. Louis for Christmas. It seemed as though we needed more family help. John's folks were thrilled that we came home so they could meet Rob. Boy, talk about more spoiling :-)
Christmas day was wonderful. A houseful of family,friends and a newborn...it just doesn't get any better then that. Over the course of the next week I had lots of cramping and gas. I just didn't feel well. John and I talked about it and we decided to have me stay in St. Louis for a couple of week until I felt better. So on New Years day John headed back to Fort Polk for work knowing I was in good hands.
I knew having a baby was hard. They call it labor for a reason...lol. What I found harder was the first 4 weeks. Physically my body was shot. Emotionally my heart was full. Mentally my mind was tired. Over all I was completely exhausted and sleep deprived. I could never seem to get caught up.
So I sent out a SOS message to my folks and thank god they responded quickly. I had given birth on Friday and they showed up the following Saturday to stay 2 weeks. They walked in the door and there was hugs and kisses. We passed over Rob and explained that there were bottles in the kitchen and diapers back in the nursery. Then John and I high-tailed back to bed for 6 hours. We slept like the dead and Grandma and Grandpa got busy spoiling Rob.
I had been telling my mom that Rob looked exactly like John right down to his coloring. When she got there she couldn't believe how much he looked like John but she thought his coloring was off. In fact, she thought he looked pretty yellow. So the next day we took him in to get checked out. Sure enough he had a case of jaundice from being delivered so early. So the doctors had us switch from breast milk to formula and to try and set him in sunlight as often as we could. It sounded so easy...I just wish it had been that easy.
First we tried regular formula but he threw that up and had diarrhea. Next we tried a soy based formula and he threw that up too and had really bad gas. Finally we tried the most expensive formula and that did the trick. So with 4 weeks down we were finally able to get into a schedule of sorts...but not for long.
My due date was December 11th and we could hardly wait. Now I will be the first one to admit that I took on too much towards the end. However, I've always had a hard time saying no especially with volunteering.
At the end of October was the base fall festival and I was co-chair for our group. We were going to make and sell egg rolls. So first was an all day shopping trip for ingredients. Next was 3 long days of putting the egg rolls together. I tried to do most of it sitting down but that wasn't always possible. Finally we had 3 days to sell them all. Because I was also the treasurer for our group it was decided that I had to be there all 3 days, all day long to handle the money. I made it through OK and we did make lots of money but boy was I tired.
Next came our Fall Joint Officers Coffee on November 16th. I was again co-chair for the event. It was going to be a PX fashion show followed by dessert and coffee. Lots of prep went into it but for the actual event but all I was "suppose" to do that night was to collect money at the door and hand out name tags. Of course that's not all I ended up doing. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I spent the night running around putting out fires and making sure everyone was happy. In the end, the evening was a success but I was exhausted.
Walking up the stairs at home I thought I started leaking water but being a first time mom I wasn't sure. So we called Labor & Delivery and they told us to watch it for an hour. We waited the hour worrying because it was too early to have the baby. At the end of the hour we went to the hospital to get checked out. I was having contractions but I wasn't leaking fluid. So they sent us home with strict orders for me to rest. By now it was 2am and John and I were so tired we couldn't see straight. As we got into bed, gave each other a kiss and rolled over, it happened. POP! and then a rush of fluid. There was no question this time my water definitely had broken. So we got up, grabbed the bags and back to the hospital we went.
We got there, got checked in and we were definitely having a baby soon. They tried for a few hours to let it progress on it's own but it wasn't going anywhere. So they started me on Pictocin (nasty stuff) to get things moving. It got things moving fast and furious and it went on for 14 hours. They didn't do epidurals at the military hospital so all I got was some pain medicine...thanks. Since my water had broken I wasn't allowed out of the bed but I finally had to stand up. As I swung my legs over the bed the baby dropped down big time! I told the nurse he was coming out but she said not yet. I laid back, they checked again and rushed me to the delivery room. I was right! Three pushes and out came John Robert, at 5:48pm, November 17th at 6lbs 4oz and 21" long and perfect.
It was truly love at first sight for us and he is still the apple of our eyes.
We lived on post at Fort Polk. Since John was a 2LT we qualified for a small 2 bedroom apartment. It actually wasn't too bad since we didn't own much furniture. Fort Polk is in the middle of nowhere in Louisiana. We had a small regular Wal-Mart, a few fast food places and a few bars. So trying to decorate a first time nursery was really difficult.
Lucky for me my friends and family came through in a big way. My mom would take pictures of stuff at a baby superstore in St. Louis and send them to me. I went through all of them, picked out what I liked, and then she went back and registered for me. I also had 2 baby showers that were wonderful. I got the nursery done early and most days I loved to wander through it.
I know this is a short post but my labor story deserves it's own post.
The year 1995 would move swiftly for us. John didn't have too much field time but he was really busy with a new job up on the battalion staff. He loved the new job but he always felt he had to work extra hard because he was a 2nd LT doing a CPT's job. I was very active with volunteer work at the battery, battalion and post level as well as being pregnant.
We had tried so hard to get pregnant that we loved every minute of the pregnancy, well except for the morning sickness:-) Since I had taken fertility medicine to get pregnant I was going to be followed as a High Risk. I stayed pretty busy but I was dying to feel the baby move. Once the baby started moving we would spend hours in the evening feeling it roll around.
Around 20 weeks I had my first ultrasound. They were going to do all the measurements and hopefully tell us if it was a "hotdog" or a "hamburger". The morning of the ultrasound I woke and started drinking. I didn't think I would be able to get enough fluid in me but I would sure try. Once we got there we didn't have to wait too long...thank goodness. They got me ready, had John come in and then they started measuring. The room seemed really quiet but I had to go to the bathroom so bad I didn't say anything. Finally I was allowed to go release half and then find out the big news. The tech got the baby on the screen with the "money" shot and turned the monitor towards us. She asked if we could tell. We looked at each other and kind-of shrugged. She turned the monitor back to herself, positioned the cursor on the screen and typed one word. This was it, we would finally know! She turned the monitor back around and we both whispered "hotdog"! It was a BOY and we were thrilled!!! She said the doctor would go over the measurements at my next appointment and then we were done. We couldn't wait to tell family and friends.
We thought all was well until my next appointment. The doctor told us that when they did the measurements they could only view 2 chambers of his heart. He didn't want us to panic but it was hard not to worry. He scheduled another ultrasound for the following week and boy did time drag by. The day finally rolled around and I was so nervous I couldn't drink as much. It worked out ok because the baby was a little bigger and they got better pictures. This time all four chambers were there and everything look great. What a relief!
Now if I could just get the nursery decorated and fulfill my volunteer shifts before the baby boy got here I would be doing great.
I have to back up just a little bit. By the time John went on active duty we had been married for 2 years. When we were at Fort Bliss we felt like we were "stable" enough to start a family. So we started trying for a baby without much success. Anyone that knows me knows how impatient I am. So each month that went by without a pregnancy was agony. We had some testing done and there was a medical reason I wasn't getting pregnant. So we started on fertility drugs. We weren't looking for a multiple birth just one little baby...I didn't think that was asking too much.
When we got to Fort Polk I was happy to find out that I could continue my infertility treatments. Now if John could just stay around long enough for me to conceive that would be awesome. We knew that John was going to be gone the month of April so March was do or die to us it seemed like. Another reason for our urgency was that this was our last dose of Clomid. We would have to move on to injections and I hate needles. I had some weird idea that once I was pregnant I would just know. Silly, right?
John had been gone one week and each day was dragging by. I woke up that first Saturday not feeling well but couldn't pinpoint anything. Around lunch I decided a quick trip to the shoppette for something that looked yummy was a good idea. I got there and was wandering the aisle when something caught the corner of my eye. Diapers, of all things. I kept walking and thinking that something wasn't right. Then I realized I was a week late!!! How could I overlook that?! My only answer is that God gave me a week of peace so it would show up on a home test.
So forget anything to eat. I grabbed a test kit and rushed home. I got to the bathroom and put the test on the counter. Then I just stood there. I was afraid to take it and afraid not to. Finally I got the courage up to take the test and then I wandered the house for 5 minutes. The longest 5 minutes of my life to that point. I could hardly believe it when I saw 2 faint pink lines!!! I was so happy of course I started crying. Then I stopped. I was bummed because John wasn't there to share the news with. I had to wait for him to call. I started thinking that I would wait until he got home to tell him but when he called the next day I couldn't wait any longer. He was of course thrilled and for the rest of the deployment he told everyone he could find whether he knew them or not!
Over the next 6 mos of 1994 we would move twice. The first is from St. Louis, MO to Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX. I think overall this was our hardest move. We were leaving all our friends and family to move 1200 miles away to a whole new lifestyle.
We were only to be at Fort Bliss for 5 mos for the Officer Basic Course (OBC). We didn't qualify for on post housing and "technically" I wasn't suppose to go with him. So we found this cute little...and I mean little...one bedroom apartment. We only brought our clothes and our tv and rented everything else. Our household goods were put into storage until we PCSed to our first duty station. John attended classes Monday-Friday and had the weekends off. I spent the weeks with free time on my hands for the first time in my adult life. I got to know the other wives that were there and became good friends with them. Some I'm still in touch with today. (Hi April!!!) At the end of OBC John was the top graduate, no surprise there! His reward was to spend a month in Germany learning the German ADA system and of course to party. He had a great time there and learned alot while I waited for him back in St. Louis. He got back just in time for Thanksgiving. We spent the day with our families and then we were on the move early Friday morning.
Off to Fort Polk, Leesville, LA. Lucky for us we weren't the only ones. Our friends the McC's and Pav's from OBC were assigned there also. In fact we and the McC's got to Fort Polk the same day. So Monday morning the guys headed off to sign in together and April and I went to housing together. For once Housing was nice enough to let April and I go look at housing together and they had lots to offer. By lunch we had picked out the top floor of a 4 plex, across the stairwell, together. We met the guys for lunch and then arranged for our household goods to be delivered. The rest of the week went by quickly trying to get signed into everything and to start unpacking boxes.
We would have many good times with the McC's and we are happy to still consider them friends.
The big moment was upon us, Graduation! John had worked so long and hard towards this moment. School has always been extremely important to both of us and to finally have the end in sight was great. The morning was bright and sunny and with hundreds of graduates we knew it would be a long day. Finally his name was called and across the stage he went. This was the second time I had watched him cross the stage and even with 3 more times to come I couldn't have been more proud.
Next came John's commission into the U.S. Army. The ceremony was held at the chapel at Washington University. John and I were both extremely nervous. It felt like and it was a huge step. Almost like our first grown up one. We knew that with this everything would change. We would pack up and move thousands of miles away from all our friends and family.
John's Reserve unit had one last surprise for us. They were awarding John with an Army Commendation Medal. It was a wonderful addition to the day. We had 2 days to celebrate with everyone before we were on our way to Fort Bliss, Texas. Boy were we excited!
As fall rolled along we made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas. We became more and more anxious about where we would be come spring. To help break up the waiting game we decided to use my travel benefits.
The first week of 1994 we flew first class (free) to Washington DC. We stayed at a partner hotel for very little and everything to see in DC was free. You have to remember we were still poor college students. Being the way I am, I had every minute planned out. We saw all the Smithsonian's, Museums, and Memorials. I had even arranged a special White House tour through our Senator.
Finally our waiting payed off. The morning we were scheduled to tour the Pentagon we recieved a phone call. John's Commander tracked us down to our hotel. He was calling to give us the good news. John had gotten his first pick and first choice. He was going to be an active duty Air Defense Artillery (ADA) officer. We still didn't know our first duty station but we did breathe a big sigh of relief.
Our first year of marriage perked along pretty well. I think it was pretty typical. We both worked hard and saw very little money. But we were happy. By the time summer of 1993 was upon us the Army was ready to separate us again.
The first was Advance Camp for ROTC. It was 6 weeks long and held at Fort Lewis, WA. It was a great experience for John. He got a chance to take part in each "branch" of the Army. He tried everything from shooting a gun to driving a tank. This was suppose to help him decide what job he wanted in the Army. I don't remember what his preferences were but I know his top choice was Air Defense Artillery or ADA. We also had to put in our preferences for our first duty station. Again, I don't remember the whole list but I know the top two were Germany and Hawaii and the bottom two were Fort Polk, LA and Korea. We would wait months to find out and had plenty of things to occupy our time with.
Our other excitement that summer was Airborn School for the Reserve Unit. I thought he was crazy for wanting to jump out of a perfectly good airplane but he couldn't wait. I was glad it was only 3 weeks long but it couldn't go fast enough for me. Thanks to my job I was able to fly down for the last 5 days. I got to sit through 3 day jumps and 2 night ones. One jump would have been enough for me. After the last day jump it was taking John a long time to make it off the field and I was starting to get really worried. Finally one of the jump masters came over to where I was pacing and told me he was ok, that he was just helping someone who got stuck in a tree! Finally I was able to pin on his jump wings after he got his "blood wings" from his stick leader.
As summer came to an end we settled back into school and work. Like I said before we had months to wait until we found out the next chapter of our Army life.
As 1991 wrapped up and 1992 started up, plans for our wedding came to the forefront. John had school, work and ROTC to keep him busy and I had my full time job and all the wedding preparations to keep me busy. We didn't want to spend a lot of money on our wedding and frankly we preferred cash for gifts. We wanted to have as much as possible set aside for our honeymoon in Hawaii. We were oh so young but determined to do things our way. I had my dress custom made from my own design and John wore his dress blues for the occasion.
April 25th dawned bright and beautiful. We had a simple but lovely ceremony at John's church immediately followed by a reception in the fellowship hall at the church. Our pictures, flowers and the cake came from local business and we couldn't have been happier with the way things turned out. Looking back I think we spent a total of $2500 on everything.
John's grandmother had not been well enough to attend the ceremony. So as soon as the reception was over John and I headed to the hospital in all our wedding finery to surprise her with her flower bouquet. As soon as she saw us she starting crying tears of happiness. To this day John and I are so happy we made that effort since unfortunately grandmother passed away two days later. Grandmother Warmann we still miss you!
John had to finish up his spring classes and take his final exams. So we waited until May 23rd to start our honeymoon. This was a big undertaking for us. Up until this point all of our travels had been local and in the car. Suddenly, at age 20, we are getting on an airplane and flying half-way around the world by ourselves. The honeymoon was everything we expected and much much more. We felt like we were in paradise and everything went smoothly.
We came back from Hawaii with a solid start to our marriage and great communication set in place.
John loved his monthly drills but they left him wanting more. He even started thinking about making the Army his career. Those thoughts led to more questions then answers. We talked about going active duty Army instead of becoming a police officer. So we looked into our options. The one we liked most was to stay in the Reserves and join the ROTC program at Washingtion University. The ROTC program started grooming John to become an officer in the Army and he was allowed to continue his drill weekend with the Reserves. By doing things this way we were also lucky because John wasn't on a scholarship so if he didn't want to go on Active duty he wouldn't owe the Army any time.
Things smoothed out and John enjoyed his time between me, classes, ROTC, Reserves, and a part time job. The time really flew by. I continued working full time at TWA and was doing lots of overtime. That paid off for me in terms of a promotion. I became a supervisor in charge of helping out travel agents and their high end customers. We were both so busy it was hard to take advantage of our free travel benefits.
By the time the summer of 1991 came around, John was ready for a bit of a break. Unfortunately the Reserve unit had other ideas. It was time for his two weeks of annual training. This year it would be in the form of a "Warfighter Exercise" at Fort Sill, OK. This also was the first time we would be seperated for any length of time thanks to the Army. It may have been the first time, but it was not in the least the last time. We had no idea how many separations were in store for us.
Desert Storm may have only lasted 100 days but our time with the Army was far from over. We finished that semester of college but big changes were coming for the summer. John originally went in on the split option plan. He was suppose to attend Basic Training that summer and then AIT next summer and attend monthly weekend drills with a Reserve unit in between. Once he started Basic Training there was no turning back. About 3 weeks into it he changed his option plan and decided to go to AIT right after Basic Training. That meant he would miss the start of the next semester of college. To try and stay current for college John enrolled in some mail order classes and worked part time.
I was having some thought changing moments myself. I was not happy in college. At the time, even though I had a full scholarship, UMSL was not where I wanted to be. I did what I thought was best and dropped out but I really regret not sticking with it now. I found myself kind-of at lose ends and worked some dead end jobs. I helped get a Walgreens store up and running but really wanted something in the travel industry. I thought that by working at a local hotel I could get my foot in the door but that didn't seem to help much. I finally decided to go back to school just not college. I attended a technical school and became a reservation agent for TWA which was then headquartered in St. Louis.
I have never been good with history and dates but one date that will always stick in my mind is February 24th 1991. That is the day the ground assult started in the first Gulf War. February 24th is also the day John changed our lives forever. He joined the Army that day. It was not anything we had really talked about. We had planned on staying in St. Louis with him being a cop and me working at TWA. Desert Shield had been in the news for days and it really was affecting John. So on the 24th he decided to do something about it.
Next he had to tell me...not a pleasant task in his mind. We went out for dinner at our favorite resturant, Pasta House. While we were waiting for our table the news come on in the bar. They broke in and said "America is at War, Desert Storm has started". I turned to John with my mouth wide open only to see him turning pale and not able to meet my eyes. Before I could say anything the hostess came up and led us to our table. John immediately opened that menu and tried to act like nothing was wrong. We placed our orders and I pinned down John with my eyes. He took a deep breath and said, "I did something today you may not be too happy about." I had no idea what was to come. He said he felt like he had to do something so he joined the Army. I was speechless, scared and upset all at once. I didn't know where to begin.
I don't remember much more from that night, but it definitely changed our lives forever.
John and I spent the next 4 years committed to each other. There were homecoming dances and proms,graduations and first college classes, frat parties and MANY date nights. We shared so many of the same interests that finding something to do in St. Louis was never a problem. Forest Park became of favorite haunt of ours. Whether it was winter and sliding down Art hill, spring with paddle boats on the lake, summer at the Muny or a crisp fall day walking around the zoo. We spent a lot of time together.
We also talked about the future a lot and what we both wanted out of life. It seemed only fitting that the place we spent a lot of time at would be the place John asked me to be his wife. Looking back now we were so young and didn't have a clue but we knew we wanted to be together forever. So on a hot summer night during the intermission of The Little Shop of Horrors at the Muny John got down on one knee and proposed. Of course I said yes and I haven't taken the ring off since!
