26 years

Today is my anniversary. My husband and I are celebrating 26 years together.

We met at a James River/Lord Botetourt football game, played at LBHS. At that time the home team was on the other side of the field from where it is now, and people tended to congregate beneath the goal post on the right side as you look at the field from the school.

I had graduated high school in 1981 and some friends lured me back to the campus for the game. Said friends introduced me to James.

I remembered him. We had ridden the school bus together lo those many years ago. He was four years older than I and of course had no time for the mousy little girl who sat on the back seat and did her homework. I had no hint of a romantic notion for the boisterous boy who would race from the bus and climb aboard a motorcycle left at the end of his driveway. Kids always moved from one side of the bus to the other to watch him zoom around the field. He seemed to free.

And there we were meeting beneath the goal post. We tried to make small talk, talking about the game, going to school, our mutual friends. He asked me if I would go out with him that night, and I told him no, I was with friends. He asked if I would go out the following night and I told him no, I had plans with my parents who were celebrating their anniversary.

Poor thing, he was trying very hard, wasn't he? We left the ball game and then we met up again at Mike's Market, a local hang-out and grocery store. At that time it was located in what is now Bellacino's Pizza. He again asked me to go out and my friends this time urged me to go. One of the couples with us said they would go out also, and the rest would find another way home (I was driving and had my own car.) One of them promised to call my mother (which she did). This was pre-cell phone.

So I drove to meet him at the Ramada Inn, which was a hotel at the Hollins exit of I-81. He was with a friend of his. The place had a nightclub and it was the place to go. And there we danced and shared our first kiss. We quickly became an item and the rest, as they say, is history.