It was still very dark, the middle of the night dark, when the phone rang. On the other end was Michael calling from Spain.
Some background, I was a senior in college and Mike was a Navy pilot stationed in Rota, Spain. These were the early post Franco years and long distance phone calls to or from Spain were rare. You called the operator and placed your call and then you waited. When the call was ready the operator called you back and you got to talk to whomever you had dialed. No such thing as direct dialing. As you talked you could hear the money being suctioned out of your bank account. :-)
As you might expect, I was surprised to hear Mike's voice. Letters and cards were our norm.
I was even more surprised when he proposed!
Again, background. Mike was not a commitment kind of guy those days. It just wasn't his nature. When he left for Spain we had NO future plans. We were going to just see how it went. I was even applying to grad schools for the next year, something not done lightly since I needed financial help from them to go.
So, my first thought was not romantic. I remembered the date and just laughed thinking this was an April Fool's Day joke. I congratulated him on a good one (and myself on not over reacting.)
It took awhile for him to convince me he was serious! Really! I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
Well, we were married that September (I didn't want to risk having him change his mind :-) ) and the rest is history.
That one thing changed my life tremendously and led to so many wonderful things. I'm glad I had the courage to jump in with both feet.
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