A letter to my wife

Letter to my bride, Carole

When I first saw you  I wanted to date you and I did. I took you to my fraternity formal. I was embarrassed since one of the entertainment segments was raunchy. I couldn’t wait to get you out of there.

I didn’t date you again, until you transferred to a different college.

Your sorority sister, Joyce , kept in touch with both you and me. She was the one who told me about your transfer and where you lived . She gave me your contact information. I guess we thought we were stalking each other.

Our second date, while you attended  your transfer school, was the time when I knew I was I in love with you and willing to wait for us to get together more often.  Since our first date I had flunked out of school and was in pilot training in the USAF  before we had our second date.

Our third date( I remember a lot) was when I met your parents which was a week after our second date; you were on winter break and I was still on leave from the military.

I was still in the service when you graduated with a degree in elementary education.

I sent you roses for your graduation, but you didn’t respond  to me. After a month I gave up since I assumed you broke with me.

I dated for a little while and then I decided I was not giving up on you . So I wrote you a not so nice letter. You responded with a letter saying “I liked when you touched me that night at Jones Beach!”

I didn’t see you again until I was discharged from the Air Force.

Until that time, I figured out why you didn’t respond to me ; I had applied to a college, while in the Air Force , without telling you. I  always told you everything I did! 

I turned down the offer to go back to college , thru the Air Force and decided to return to school when I was a civilian again and living home. I shared that with you in the letter I wrote to you.

I found a job right after being discharged and saved most of money to continue my college studies.

Agreeing to date only on Friday evening was a winning decision for us.  I couldn’t afford  to date at times, especially while I commuted to school. You were very understanding , since I never held anything from you even my financial situation.

While I was starting my fifth year of college, I asked you to marry me. I had saved the money for the ring for three years.

You turned me down which was a surprise . At first I didn’t know what to do so I kept the ring . I realized I didn’t have a good track record with staying in college; I had flunked out of the first college  I attended, after all. I am convinced that was the reason you shot me down with my proposal.

I didn’t call you for 5 months . You caved in, by calling and inviting me to help you with a philosophy course. That was a laugh, since you were an A student. 

After I helped you with that philosophy of education writer, I decided to pull no punches.

These are the points I covered:

1. Invited you to my graduation

2. Had a promised job at an aerospace company on Long Island

3. Wanted to buy a new car( second hand ones were expensive to maintain)

4. Was going to ask you to marry me again( didn’t mention I was going to upgrade on the ring) , but say when

We appreciated the humor: you only agreed to the graduation invitation. We knew we would have a long life together.

We did and I thank you very much for the good and not so good times

Eleven years of dating didn’t require vows when we married.

Love you

Your Groom.

Pat