how it happened

Since I've been talking about Terry and I celebrating twenty years together, I thought I would tell you all it all began.

Terry and I were friends in high school. We were just plain good friends, with no romantic thoughts. Terry's family moved out to the desert while we were still in high school, but we kept in touch. Even as we went through college, started our careers, and made various geographical moves, we managed to keep each other's addresses and phone numbers.

We both got married. Terry ended up in Southern California and I found myself in Silicon Valley. My wife died in 1989. Terry divorced her husband in late 1990 for philandering. The way I found out about that was unique.

I had just gotten back from a healing weekend away on the Mendocino coast. I came home to a Christmas card from Terry. It was one of those preprinted ones, and there was a big X inked through her then-husband's name. She wrote me a brief note about what had happened, and suggested that she might take advantage of the low fares Southwest  was offering in those days and come up for a visit.

That was back in my Religious Science era, and the liturgical calendar wasn't at all on my mind. It was only later I realized that the weekend we had scheduled, the last weekend of March 1991, was Easter. But, as it turned out, that had no effect on things. Terry flew up on Saturday morning. We went up to the City and spent the day at Golden Gate Park. Terry had closed a big sale and her company had promised her dinner for two wherever she liked. So she took me to Scott's Seafood in downtown San Jose. The restaurant is on the fourth floor, and provides a marvelous view of the lights of the city. Sunday morning we went to Easter services at my Religious Science church.

By the time Terry flew back Sunday afternoon, everything had changed. What had been a good friendship was now the beginning of a strong relationship.

That was twenty years ago. It's still going strong and still getting better.