He Knew I'd Cave

In the summer of 1978 Steve and I were dating. We'd been going out for probably two months when he asked me to marry him. It was very sweet, but I was having cold feet. I had just gotten out of a TEN year long relationship and didn't think it was a good idea to jump right into another.

I told him I didn't think I was ready. I explained my excuses. I did have feelings for him, but I was scared! Well, he said, "Well, Lynnie, I'm ready to get married and start a family. If it's not with you, it'll be with someone else." Wow. He then left the next day to go to his college graduation in California (he was 29 and had just completed the rest of his studies here in Washington State).

I had a day or two to think about it and realized I didn't want to lose this wonderful guy! I decided to give Steve the surprise of his life! I took off work and bought two tickets to California -one round trip and one one-way back to Washington (he had hitchhiked down there with a buddy, who was also graduating). I contacted Steve's parents and got them to go in on the surprise. They came and picked me up at the airport and off we went to Santa Cruz to the graduation.

When we arrived, Steve's family all piled out of the RV and his dad asked Steve to go back into the RV to fetch his jacket. Steve went in and there I was! I told him, "Yes, I will marry you!" He was so surprised and excited! We had a wonderful week-long visit with his family and I met most of his 13 brothers and sisters. Then we flew back to Washington to begin our life together. We were married two months later.

Years later we were talking about this event. He told me he had really planned the whole thing (not the surprise trip, but the ultimatum). He said, "I knew you'd cave." What a guy. We had twenty-one wonderful years together till his heaven-going in 1999.