I just ran the numbers through the random number generator and it picked out a winner from THE NEW YEAR'S GIVE-AWAY!
I have to tell you that I was SHOCKED that this give-away got 175 comments!! I was floored! I was so excited to see that SO many of you have taken part in this and shared your stories.
I just wanted to make a public "Thank You" to all that shared and also hope that you understand if I don't personally respond to every one of you. I LOVED reading through them and I've read EVERY ONE OF THEM! But it's a big job to respond to all and I hope you know that I love all of my readers and get warm fuzzies every time you all leave a comment. I try to respond to as many as I can, but I've come to realize that I really am a "one girl show," even as much as I try my hardest to do everything. *wink* I'm sure you all know how that is.....crafting, house chores, trying to be superwoman, being the cook, the maid, etc. :)
So, thank you all for taking the time to comment. I appreciate each one!
Now.........on to the winner......and then I'll share my own story of how I met my honey.
The winner is: Carol Lee
My husband and I had just recently moved back into our parents house , we lived 4 doors down from one another. I was out washing my car one day before going to work , and he walked up the street. Of course he would have to pick this time to come talk to my. I was in a baggie sweatshirt,no make-up on, and my hair was up in a scrunchie. I was hoping he was just walking up the street to go catch the bus or something.. Not my luck- he stops right next to me and says " DO you know that you are a hard person to catch up with? I Have been trying for over a month and you are never home. By the way My name is Bob & I spell it backwards. Our first date was a walk on the beach and we talked for what seemed to be an eternity. By the end of the evening I knew everything about him, and knew that we were meant to be together. So, I literally married the guy next door . ( well 4 doors down)
Posted by: Carol Lee
What a great story, Carol Lee! Just goes to show that there ARE men out there that look past the outside! :) You snagged yourself a good one!
I met Davy at the end of January of 1996. My family was getting ready to move from Pennsylvania to Vermont. We had lived in PA for a little over 2 years and missed the mountains and laid back lifestyle of northern New England.
My family had a few home businesses at the time and one of them was a natural bakery. We supplied to some area stores, but my father also did a route (like the old "milk men" and "bread men" of the golden days) once a week. One of the places he stopped at was the store that my brother-in-law worked at. He would buy baked goods from my dad and bring them home to his family. My MIL called us to order some extra goodies for company they were having over and we told her to order extra because we'd be moving in 3 weeks. She stopped over and picked them up and Davy drove her over. I said hello quickly and then went back upstairs to finish some packing I was doing. Yah, he was cute, but I was 19 and and wasn't in the market for a husband. I was determined NOT to get married, NOT to have kids and was going to own a horse farm. At least that's what the dream was. I didn't want a man to be tied down to.
Our mothers got to talking and found out they got married the same year, had 4 kids and we were all the same ages, except for a boy on each side of the families. My MIL invited my family over for dinner. The night came (it was 8 days before we moved) and we all decided that we had far too much to do than to go to a family's house for dinner that we probably would never see again. My mother said that was rude, so we called and said we'd just come over for dessert, stay a couple hours and then leave. Little did we know, the boys in the Martin household (there's 4 of them) were just as quick not to have us over either. They were tired from work and school and figured it was pointless to have a family over they'd never see again.
Well, we went over at 5 pm and left at 1 am the next morning. We all got along really well and played quite a few rounds of cards and board games. Come to find out, my husband actually worked in the same store as my dad. My dad did a couple days at a HUGE local grocery store in their bakery department and my husband worked in the produce department...they'd passed by each other every now and then and said hello, but that's as far as it went. For 2 years! I remember going into the produce department one time with my grandmother and she spotted my husband working and told me that she was going to set me up with him and I told her she better not dare! I had to laugh when I eventually told her that I was dating the produce guy!
We moved 8 days after we met and 4 months later, we started dating. 10 months later, we were engaged and 2 1/2 months after that, we were married. That was in June of 1997. My sister and my husband's brother started dating the same day we did, got engaged the day after we did and got married 4 weeks after we did. They're no longer together, but they both live near by. Ten and a half years of marriage later, I'm still in love with my Davy and even more so than I've ever been. So much for thinking we'd never see them again!
Oh.....the picture above was taken the night we all went over for that dessert that was only supposed to last 2 hours but ended up lasting 8 hours long. I'm ALL the way on the far right. Yes, I was a snazzy dressing little hippie way back then, too. My husband is the middle one in the back row. The one with his eyes closed in the picture. I like to think he was day dreaming about me. ;) HA! Fact is, neither one of us were interested in the other one romantically that night. Hey, we didn't think we'd ever see each other again, so what was the point? ;) Guess God had other ideas. :)
