Love

It was the summer of 1995. I began working what would be my summer job for the next 9 summers. The summer job that finished out high school, college, and even between the 2 years of teaching. Our local park is very large. It isn't an amusement park, but it has a water park, lagoon with paddleboats, softball diamonds, soccer, ice rink, golf courses, playgrounds, etc...I worked in the concession stand. Exciting as it was to wear hats all of the time since I worked with food, there were plenty of guys to be seen. Several of them worked on the maintenance crew and would prep the ball diamonds for games each day. Yes, it was summer and they often did this shirtless. Of course, they would come over and get a drink afterwards.

I worked with several people--all new to me of course. It was fun to dip ice cream cones (even though the ice cream would be more like an ice block at times), make sno-cones, and just be in the atmosphere of a park. There were days when it was a drudgery such as the 4th of July when it was HOT and long lines ALL DAY. Alas, those were the carefree days of youth. Afterward, someone might come over and we would hang out after work. It may be a girl friend or a guy friend or somebody that wanted to be more than a friend. Although I worked in concessions, we had several different concession stands throughout the park. I worked at the biggest one and that was pretty much every day. It became my home in the sense of work. By the 5th summer, I had worked with some of the same people that whole time. Our boss put certain ones of us together a lot. I worked with 2 people quite a bit. Brian worked in concessions with me all of the time and Josh worked a the batting cages.

By this time, we were all friends or at least work buddies. I continued to have interest in so many different guys. Between the summers, I would go back to Florida for school. Guys at school, guys at home. One day I remember hanging out with a friend from school that actually worked with me at the park at the time. He informed me that Josh liked me. Okay was my reply and how would you know that??? He said he just knew.

You see, Josh worked with me pretty much every single day. He was pretty quiet so we never talked aside from necessary talking for the first 4 years. By the fifth year, I guess he figured I was okay to talk to since we were by ourselves all day most days. His twin brother also worked with me, btw. Eventually, I would work with each of his siblings at the park. Time progressed and he would start walking with me after work. I would often take walks there. At this point in time, Josh wasn't on the radar. Over the five years, I had seen a black, blond, pink, and back to black hair change. The lengths changed as well. One year (I kid you not) he resembled Satan (not that I've seen Satan). He had scary long black hair, a goatee, black rimmed glasses, a pink chain, and a mouth that would embarass many. Yeah (I mean NO) that wasn't my umm ideal guy really. I was into the clean cut, prep look. Nevertheless, we were friends and we did hang out.

Over that 5th year, Josh began doing different things on his own. He decided that since he planned to enter the business world, the look he had and the vocabulary probably wouldn't be overly professional. One day after work, he came back to show us all that he had gotten a haircut. He also decided that he would self-clean the vocabulary. At this point, I was not dating anyone exclusively. Since we went to school in two different places he in IL and myself in FL, he began writing me every now and then. He also would call on Saturdays. This was just before cell phones & emails were as common as school supplies.

Josh graduated from college and started the 6th summer at the park. I came back to the park and still had another year left of college. Things had changed somewhat, but I wasn't ready for a relationship yet. It was on one of those dreaded 4th of July work days that Josh asked me to be his girlfriend and I left him hanging. I didn't know if I wanted to give up the single life of dating whomever. I was having fun with my girl friends and just wasn't sure. Actually, a lot had changed and I found myself realizing that I was really truly in love. You see, my apprehension stemmed from a previous relationship with a guy named "W". He was a jerk and I was determined NEVER to have my heart broken like that again. However, Josh was definitely different than "W". He was the exact opposite-- a thoughtful romantic through and through. I told him 3 days later "YES". It took him a bit to figure out since that was the only random word I said. I also told him I loved him that day. He was shocked. He had told me months before that he loved me and I lectured him over it since I wasn't going to be burned again. This time, I knew it was for real.

That was July of '99. Three months later I came home from school for a weekend visit. We were engaged that weekend. We got married in June of 2000. In honor of Valentine's Day, that's our story in a nutshell. He is my soulmate and I'm glad he was persistent when I put up the walls!! I love you baby!