EAST MEETS WEST IN AN UNLIKELY PLACE

It's not surprising that the apple did not fall far from the tree in some of the similar ways my daughter's life has been like my own.

I too was a late bloomer. Five years after I graduated from High school, I enrolled in a Christian College in Tennessee, 700 miles from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. The Lord had to have had a hand in this because my grades in High School were not such which should have allowed me enroll in any College. Since this was the ealy 50s & I guess since it was quite samll at that time, they were purhaps a little desperate to get students. The poor grades however were the result of a lot of chaos which was going on in my life at the time.
The divorce of my parents, & the death of my beloved Principal were perhaps the major ones.

Since I was a late bloomer,though my chronological age was 5 years older than the other Freshman, emotionally & maturity wise, I fit in very well with my classmates embarking on their college career.

After graduating, I decided to add additional courses at a College in Kentucky, influnenced a lot by a crush on a younger member of the College group at church. At the end of that year, & since my sister was getting married in California, I was able to get a ride with some other students who were returning to the Sunshine state.

After my sister's wedding, as the Maid of Honor, I decided to stay in California where I was able to find a job & an apartment in Hollywood where I had always dreamed of living. Later I moved into a larger apartment in the same building which I shared with roomates. ( Just like College). It was in Hollywood that I finally met Mr. Right. There were a lot of Mr. Wrongs prior to meeting him in that year following my arrival to California.

I had of course prayed for a long time to find the person the Lord would have for me. I very much wanted children & had since I was a little girl playing house.
I did however have a lot of preconcieved ideas as to what he would be like. First, he would not be divorced, but realistically, when one is 29 or 30 the chances are that the good ones have already been taken. My daughter was lucky to find one who hadn't been. My Mr Right had been a "child groom at 17 who marrried a "child bride" the same age. Unfortunatley as they grew up the grew apart & a 14 or 15 year marrige ended.

OK Confssion time coming up as to how we found each other in the big city. Would you believe at a phone booth in Hollywood. Yes you read that correctly. I had been out driving & had stopped at a phone booth to return a call to a person who had asked me out. I kept dialing & kept getting a busy signal. In the meantime Mr Right who was in the same parking lot had spotted me & was watching me. I turned around & saw this very tall man & opened the door to ask him if he wanted to use the phone. he said yes & I did not know it was really a ploy to meet me. He made his call, probobly dialing the time information or something. Anyway, he didn't leave & when I opened the door of the phone booth again, he asked me out to go eat. The strangest thing of all was I accepted & this is totally unlike me, not only that, but I left my car in the parking lot & went with him in his car. This was in June of 1957, possibly a little safer then, but what was I thinking? Anyway we talked & even though it wasn't love at first sight, love soon blossumed after our 2nd date(I invited him to church the next day). We were together 30 almost 31 years before he went home to be with the Lord. A wonderful daughter Tammy was born 5 years after we married.
I have always been grateful to the Lord who brought us together n such an unlikly manner & place, a very tall Texan down from Oregon, & a tiny translant from Ohio