How I Met John

I was his personal trainer. ~1996, I trained him on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 - 6:50p.m. He chose me to be his trainer (it didn't happen by chance). I called him my 'triple A' because he seemed so high strung. He would be ready and waiting for me 10 minutes early, nearly every time. My response to that? "Go warm up", John: "I already did", Me: "Go do it again". I find out years later that his 'warm-up' was sitting in the wet sauna downstairs for 5 -10 minutes until he broke a good sweat. Then he would come upstairs 'warmed up'. Nice.

Once, he asked me if I wanted to come over and watch ER. (That was the hot show that year.) He said he would make me dinner. (I would come to find out years later that he is quite a chef.) I politely declined because: 1) I didn't date my clients; and 2) I had just gotten out of a rotten relationship and just wanted to not date at all.

Flash forward a few years, and we meet up at a different gym. I am no longer a trainer, I am now a pharmaceutical rep for Ortho-McNeil, a Johnson and Johnson company. We start chatting and he tells me about a swim clinic that he is going to. I ask him why and he says that he is training for a triathlon. I was training for a triathlon as well! I asked him which triathlon, and he said the Tom Landry. Me TOO! We decided that we would train together. However, I made it blatantly clear that we were NOT going to be dating while we trained. Period. He agreed and we started some training. In February, one of my good friends, Albert, came over to my apartment to propose. Seriously, with a ring and everything. I was so stunned. We were friends and that was all. I (of course) said no and he left. I called John to tell him about it and we ended up meeting at Khaki's to eat. (not a date)

About 3 weeks before the triathlon, John is over at my apartment. We had been out a few times, but I would not let him hold my hand, kiss me, nothing. Anyways, he is sitting on my leather chaise lounge with one of my cats on his stomach and the other one sitting on his head. John hates cats. I can still picture him sitting there with the cats all over him and him tolerating it on my behalf. He asked, "What are we doing?" And I responded, "We are hanging out and training. If you don't like it, you can leave." Thank goodness he did not leave. He stayed around.

On May 1st, we both completed the Tom Landry Sprint Triathlon. This was the only race that John ever beat me. For my defense, I am not as fast of a swimmer, but more importantly I had a mountain bike for the bike part and he had a road bike. Let me tell you, that makes a HUGE difference. After the triathlon, his friend Robert Garcia, took our picture. Years later, Vanda painted that picture, not knowing that that was our official 'first day of dating'.

After the triathlon, we headed out to Cedar Creek Lake, where Mother and Calvin lived. John had wanted to go fishing, so I suggested we go out there. On the way to their house, he wanted to stop and get a hanging basket for my mom. Once my mom met John, it took her less than 5 minutes to ask me when I was going to marry him. I explained that we were not officially dating just yet, and she told me that, yes, I would end up marrying him.

Well, John proposed on August 19, 1999 at ~8pm. We were rollerblading on the Joe Pool levee. He faked an injury and ended up on one knee. I skated over to see if he was Ok and he proposed, with the ring and all. I could not have been any happier at that moment in my life. We celebrated by going over to Mother and Calvin's 'place' and having some champagne out of jelly jars.

We wanted to get married right away, but since John is the youngest of 7 children, we needed to have a decent wedding, not an elopement. We wanted to wait until the new year, but we were worried about what ~could happen with all the hoopla of Y2K. We chose the 1st weekend in February, which just happens to be his brother, Buddy's, birthday.

It has been over 10 years now, and I can say that I love him more, way more than the day I married him. There are so many things that have happened that make me love him more each day. God truly blessed me by giving me John.