I'm often asked, "How does a boy from Atlanta, Ga meet a girl from Long Island, NY?" Well, here's the short version...
Cliff was in the Navy. The ship he was on at the time, the U.S.S. Voge was dry-docked in Brooklyn, NY. Meanwhile, I was 2 months away from my high-school graduation. I was kind of looking for a date for my Jr-Sr. Banquet (Christian School alternative to the prom). A friend of Cliff's mom was attending our church at the time. She loved Cliff and considered herself to be his 2nd mother. When he would get leave from the ship, he would come out and spend the weekends with her (Margaret) and hence come to church with her. Now, here's kind a funny side note: Cliff has always looked a little older than he is and I, who was so naive, thought Cliff and Margaret were together...(She's about the age of his mother!).
Back to the story....so I had this banquet thing coming up and my youth leaders suggested I ask Cliff. "Uh, no. I don't think so" because in my teenage mind, I thought any boyfriend of mine need to have blonde hair and blue eyes. Cliff was nothing of the sort!! Little did I know all the planning that was going on behind my back to set us up. We went out on a double date a week or so later on May 1, 1983 and that was about all she wrote. All of the sudden Cliff was all I could think about. I was head over heels. The entire time I was in school I never failed .....until that last semester. I was so totally gone!!!!!!! Within 2 weeks I knew I was going to marry him. He made me feel so comfortable and so cherished.
I thought I was going to go to college and Cliff was going to ship out to some far-away port. Didn't happen. College didn't happen for me. He did ship out to Florida. That was rough, and that was also before cell phones and free long distance. We had some whopper phone bills in those days. We did marry about 18 months later on Nov 24, 1984. We just celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary.
Cliff is just an all-around good guy. People generally like him. He's a good dad to our kids and a good husband to me. He's generally supportive of my ideas (no matter how crazy!) and he is always very supportive of me!! I love him so much and I'm so thankful that God brought together that boy from Georgia and this girl from
Cliff was in the Navy. The ship he was on at the time, the U.S.S. Voge was dry-docked in Brooklyn, NY. Meanwhile, I was 2 months away from my high-school graduation. I was kind of looking for a date for my Jr-Sr. Banquet (Christian School alternative to the prom). A friend of Cliff's mom was attending our church at the time. She loved Cliff and considered herself to be his 2nd mother. When he would get leave from the ship, he would come out and spend the weekends with her (Margaret) and hence come to church with her. Now, here's kind a funny side note: Cliff has always looked a little older than he is and I, who was so naive, thought Cliff and Margaret were together...(She's about the age of his mother!).
Back to the story....so I had this banquet thing coming up and my youth leaders suggested I ask Cliff. "Uh, no. I don't think so" because in my teenage mind, I thought any boyfriend of mine need to have blonde hair and blue eyes. Cliff was nothing of the sort!! Little did I know all the planning that was going on behind my back to set us up. We went out on a double date a week or so later on May 1, 1983 and that was about all she wrote. All of the sudden Cliff was all I could think about. I was head over heels. The entire time I was in school I never failed .....until that last semester. I was so totally gone!!!!!!! Within 2 weeks I knew I was going to marry him. He made me feel so comfortable and so cherished.
I thought I was going to go to college and Cliff was going to ship out to some far-away port. Didn't happen. College didn't happen for me. He did ship out to Florida. That was rough, and that was also before cell phones and free long distance. We had some whopper phone bills in those days. We did marry about 18 months later on Nov 24, 1984. We just celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary.
Cliff is just an all-around good guy. People generally like him. He's a good dad to our kids and a good husband to me. He's generally supportive of my ideas (no matter how crazy!) and he is always very supportive of me!! I love him so much and I'm so thankful that God brought together that boy from Georgia and this girl from
New York.
Happy 46th Birthday, Cliff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy 46th Birthday, Cliff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1 comment:
There's just something about those sailors...
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Marianne at Writer-Mommy
Post a Comment