They lived happily ever after!

14 years ago today, my wife Cindy and I were saying our vows on our wedding day.  This is our story.

In June of 1999, we had a new employee start — her name was Cindy.  She worked in our Development department, and on her very first day I was given the opportunity to meet her because she was having a problem with her computer.  When I showed up to meet her, she said “I’ve tried this and this and this and this (listing all of the troubleshooting steps she had taken) and nothing worked, so I called you.”  I was impressed because most people don’t get past the first step!  I was able to fix her issue, and over the months we became friends.

Cindy has a background in payroll, but the job she had here was that of a Volunteer Coordinator.  She was really good at it, as she is at everything she attempts, but she just wasn’t satisfied with her position, and one day she told me that she was going to be leaving her job.  A going away party was organized, and I was invited at a local restaurant/arcade type place (kind of like a Dave & Busters).

Since I would be driving right by her house on my way to the party, I offered to pick her up and give her a ride to the restaurant.  I was politely declined because she was having dinner with her neighbor, who would also be at the party.  When her neighbor found out that I had offered, she made plans of her own (unbeknownst to any of us).  I’ll get to that in a moment.

Anyway, I get to the party with all of her other friends, and we are celebrating Cindy and the job she had done.  As the party progressed, her neighbor was talking with Cindy and I, and then she said “Cindy, Mike is going to give you a ride home from the party.”  Of course, this kind of surprised Cindy, but since we were friends, she agreed to it.  It seemed like very quickly after that, everyone cleared out, and Cindy and I were just sitting, talking, and drinking Diet Coke.  The next thing we knew, the bartender is calling last call!

As I was taking Cindy to her town home, we noticed a big light going on.  When I asked was it was, Cindy told me that our Museum of Natural Sciences had done a remodel of the museum, and the grand re-opening was going on, and they were open for 24 hours straight.  So, at 2AM, we decided to check out the museum.

All in all, it was a great time, and it was the start of a wonderful relationship, the most important relationship in my life.

Three months later I was taking Cindy to Florida to meet my grandparents, introducing her to Walt Disney World (we had a great time visiting the Magic Kingdom and Epcot on July 3 & 4, 2000 — and the crowds weren’t that bad at all!), and on August 11, 2000, at 4:20PM, we were saying our vows and getting married.

After all the trials, all the successes, after seeing our child Sophie born and raise her in a loving, Christian environment for her 13+ years, after all the laughs, the tears, the sorrow at losing loved ones, and the happiness at gaining new loved ones,  after all of that, 14 years later and counting, I think I can safely say that “They lived happily ever after.”

I love you, Cindy.  Happy Anniversary my friend, my love, my soul-mate.

 

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