The rest of our story...

Here is the old envelope with all the tracts I gave to the handsome landscaper in the yard! Yes, I kept them!

And yes, that ticket...

Now, where did I leave off...

Ah yes, the suggestion to walk some place! He wasn't sure about that but he did say he would come to church. ~yippee~

My friend, Shelley was going on her trip to Florida and was in the habit of giving Lance and some of the other young fellas in the church, her season tickets while she was away. She was just about to offer them to Lance and I cut her off mid sentence and almost yelled, "I'll take 'em!". To that she frowned and said, "they're hockey tickets"... "I know, I was wondering if I could have them this time?", I almost begged...

Now I had these wonderful hockey tickets in my possession ~ yes, I know, y'all are sayin',"you hate hockey" and I'd have to say, "You're right but I'm grasping here for a very public activity!" I had to come out and ask Cliff to the hockey game soon or the tickets would go to Lance and he was waiting in the wings ~ he didn't think I'd do and neither did I. My brother, Daryl was on a ladder in my hallway changing a bulb for me when I saw Cliff in the yard. Oh Lord, help me if it's your will...in Jesus name, Amen. And with that, I opened the door and almost knocked my brother to the floor.

Man, my heart was beating ~lub,dub~ "I have some tickets to the hockey game for Tuesday". Did I just ask him out! ~eek~ His reaction says he thinks I'm offering them to him... Okay, give them to him and it's all over! No, I can't it's the public affair I've been praying for and it's just across the bridge, a good walk. And was it public, I saw someone in every second row I knew from church. ~ugh~ We discussed things like friends, church and then age. I was so disapointed when I discovered I was alot older ~ well, if nothing else, I got to go on., yes, it was a date, the first, in 6 or 7 yrs... During the date, he found out, I really didn't like hockey. I guess it was a dead give away when I covered my face everytime the players started to fight! ~yikes~

We became friends and he asked me to things like the Santa parade and other things that I could bring the kids. It was great! He called lots and I was really starting to fall for him. On Christmas Eve (1996), he asked me to marry him and I said 'yes' but changed my mind the next morning. ~yikes~ But by May 17, 1997 we became 'man and wife'. He was really rough around the edges but then, I was more than rough around the edges myself. And I still have some rough spots but I'm the Lord's project and so is Cliffton!

The rest in history! ~wink~