How I Met Mr. Sign

I will refer to my husband as Mr. Sign (he doesn't like it when I call him Gurl).

I worked a retail job in the mall for a couple of years during high school. I started when I was 15 working with a permit from the school stating that it was ok for me to do so. My best friend's mother was the store manager of a clothing shop and she invited me to apply for a job. She hired me right away and I was considered an excellent employee.

After graduating from high school I decided to attend the area community college that was in a different city than where I worked. The company decided to transfer me to a closer location.

On my first day I met all of my co-workers who were older ladies. I say older but now being older, I realize that they were only in their 30's and 40's. Seemed old at the time. They immediately started chattering about introducing me to a guy who worked in the mall that was a great guy by their standards. I just politely nodded knowing that I had no intentions of meeting anyone.

I was taken to the bank to sign papers to make deposits. Lucky me, the "great guy" was there doing his banking for his store. We were introduced and I was polite but definitely not interested in him because he was older.

I was enjoying taking classes and meeting new friends. I went out almost every night as most kids do that are that age. I met several guys that were fun to hang around with and even a few that tried to get a little more serious. If you have read my blog, you know that I was a virgin, although not totally innocent. I had my share of near "bangs". I never planned on waiting, it just happened that I was never comfortable enough with myself to go all the way.

Everyday I had to pass Mr. Sign's store front to get to mine. He was always in the front of the store. He was the manager so he did what he pleased. I still remember him hanging out talking to everyone who passed by. Over a period of 3 months, he started asking me questions about myself. What kind of music and art I liked and if I had siblings. The usual stuff. I always hurried by while politely answering his barrage of questions.

I almost always closed the store at night, so my friends would be waiting for me outside so that we could go out. Several times Mr. Sign would approach me as we were leaving and say, "What are you doing". I'd tell him that I was going out with friends. He'd say, "I'm not doing anything". My reply was always, "That's too bad for you!" and quickly make my escape. I know, I was rude but I was having so much fun with all my new and old friends that I really didn't pay too much attention to him.

After Mr. Sign made several attempts to invite himself out with me, I asked my mom to go into his store and check him out. I didn't know if he was "ok". She did and decided that he seemed pretty harmless (little did she know what he would do to me later, hehehe).

The next time I saw him, he got up the nerve to actually ask me out on a date. I decided that I would because mom said he was ok and I really just wanted him to leave me alone. I thought that we would go out and find that there were no sparks and that would be the end of things.

Our first date was dinner at a local restaurant. I drove myself and met him there because I didn't want to have to ride in a car with him. We talked for 3 hours during dinner. It was amazing! We both talked about all of the things we had in common. (Now we both realize that there really weren't that many things, we were both just trying to appease the other. It's very sad that things change.) We said our goodbyes and I got in my car. The first thought in my head was, "I'm going to marry this guy". I can't tell you why I thought it, I just knew it.