The CheckerBoard

I was the editor of the local paper.

A freckled strawberry blonde in a cotton print dress appeared in my office. She worked for the Girl Scouts; she wanted to know if I could print a scout leader recruiting announcement in the paper. I could.

I asked her name; it was Norwegian but I recalled it from the name of an insurance office in town and I nailed the spelling. She was impressed -- the insurance office was her dad's.

I had only recently returned to my hometown to run the newspaper. Turns out she was a year behind me in junior high and high school, and I had dated several of her friends before I left for UT. But we had never met.

That was 28 years ago. Since then we've sent two kids to UT. She's upstairs taking a nap on a peaceful sunny Sunday.

Viking, you ever know Nancy Petrey at the Plain Talk? She was a special lady.

Some really good stuff here. Still waiting on Wes or The Redhead to weigh in on how they met . . .

Traveling on a military deployment to Saudi Arabia, during a refueling stop in Germany, I happen to notice the magnificent jaw dropping hindquarters of a beautiful young lady. Trust me when I tell you she made those desert BDU’s look good, not an easy thing to do!!

We continued on to Riyadh and reported to our duty station the next day. Guess who I would be sharing an office with for the next few months! She’s now my wife and has been for 17 years.

I actually met my wife for the first time at a bar. We began dating on a New Years Eve. In March, she had a conference in Vegas so I tagged along. Let me tell you- What happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. We had our son 9 months later in December and got married the next April. Not the best way to do things- we made a lot of mistakes along the way but I wouldn't trade her for anything. This April we will celebrate our 6th year of marriage.

When I was news editor at the Beacon, I always kept a stack of story ideas at my desk to assign to the steady stream of communications students who needed practicum credit. One day, this gorgeous blonde came in, and I gave her one of those assignments.

Months later, at a wonderous beginning of the quarter street party, this very same blonde in a lovely pink dress latched onto me. I confess I did not remember her, and she did not remind me we had met before. To make a long story short, she invited me back to her apartment in Shelbourne Towers. In a way, I guess I never really left, though we've been in a lot of cities other than Knoxville in our nearly 33 years of marriage.

She confessed months after we met that I'd given her that story assignment, but she'd never reported or written the story. It just wasn't a very interesting story, she said, and she was right!

She sat by my side in Neyland for many years despite the fact she really wasn't a big football fan. She still does when we return to the big stadium, and she's usually by my side for those other games when I'm screaming at the TV. We have two adult children, and our eldest daughter is getting married in June.

Vol wives put up with a lot. Thank God for mine, and our days together at the U of T.

Some great stories on here guys. Thanks to all for sharing. I'll share mine,too. My first wife and I broke up after 6 1/2 years of wedded hell. We did have a son that was 3 at the time. He was in daycare at the church we attended and remained there after our separation. Several months later I took notice of a lovely lady that had a child in daycare there also. I looked at the sign in sheet to get her name. I quizzed the daycare director and found out she was divorced. Over the next few months we would speak when passing and eventually began conversing. The daycare director told her I was interested. When the kids had a Christmas show, we both attended and I met her other 2 kids who were 12 and 13. That night, I saw her in jeans for the first time and knew I had to ask her out. I asked her if I could call her, she said yes, so I called her later that night. We began dating and after about 6 months or so, she invited me to go to her church with her. I asked her to marry me in August and we got married the next May. Will be 15 years this year. Hasn't always been easy with a blended family but I am more in love with her now than ever.