Our Love Story - Part 1

It was August 1986. I was 12 years old and about to start 7th grade. My dad had gotten a new job as an athletic director at the high school in the tiny town of Meridian, TX, and my family was moving from our moderately sized town in West Texas to that small Central Texas town. I had lived in Plainview for as long as I could remember. I had survived changing from private to public school in 4th grade, being the new girl, and being second-tier in the cool kids' circle, but I had begun to find my place. I was sad about leaving that place. My friends. My home. My grandparents. But I was excited about the new adventure that awaited my family as we moved hours away from our home.

Meridian was a quaint little town with a river that ran through it, hills, and trees. All of which was different from the plains that I was moving from. I was instantly intriguing to everyone that I met in that tiny town as not much new happened there, so new equaled good and exciting. I liked that! I liked that people were interested in me. Liked me – even if it was for an odd reason. I quickly made friends with a bunch of kids, was invited to parties, and even spent the night at some of my new friends' houses.

Football was everything in Meridian. That is the case in most Texas towns, and it is even more amplified in small-town-Texas. I had it good. My dad was the coach. How much more involved in football could a 12 year old girl be? I hung out with the team at times, went to the 2-a-day practices in the evenings, and played catch with boys that I had a crush on. The most defining moment of being "the coach’s daughter", "the new girl", and "the intriguing one" came on the night that the football team had an ice cream social after practice. It was so hot and humid outside. The football boys were sweaty and gross, but that did not stop me from noticing, for the first time, the most handsome guy that I had ever seen. He was tall and had dark hair and skin. He had a beautiful, I mean BEAUTIFUL, smile and a 67 on his jersey. I asked my new friend who he was, and she said, “His name is Corey. He is my second cousin.” I found out that he was 17 and about to start his senior year of high school. I thought nothing else about him. He was obviously not an option for a boyfriend…

A little while later, that friend invited me over to spend the night. We were making tacos for dinner, and guess who stopped by to eat? It was him. Corey. I was nervous. Giddy. I don’t remember anything that was talked about that night except that he said that he wanted his babies to wear cloth diapers someday. I said, “What if your wife wants something different? She will probably be the one changing most of the diapers. If I were your wife, I would use disposable diapers!” That’s it. A funny thing to remember, I know. After he left, my friend and I were up in her room listening to music, laying on the bed talking… things that girls do. She showed me a picture of her cousin, and I looked at it all night. My heart would beat fast when I did. I even kissed it a few times. I was dreaming, but I never thought that my dream would come true.

School started. The junior high and high school shared some of the same rooms in the tiny school. It just so happened that Corey had a class right across the hall from me, and when we would change classes I got to look at him. It was like going to the mall and looking through the jewelry store window. You know that you are not going to get the jewels that you are looking at. You just imagine what it would be like to have them. Wear them. All the while knowing that you may never have anything that beautiful or expensive. Those kinds of things are out of your league. Later I found out that Corey had noticed me too… in the hall when we were changing classes. One day, he even told a friend of his that he was going to marry me someday.

The school year progressed. He did his thing. I did mine. He and my brother became friends, and I would find a reason to join their conversations when he came to visit my brother. He graduated and went away to work for the summer. Then, one late-summer day our paths crossed, and I mentioned that he should come by and visit my family, - Not me. My family. - and he took me up on it.

Fall came, and Corey moved about an hour away to go to college. In small-town-Texas everyone that goes to college within an hour drive comes home for the weekend. They leave school on Fridays in plenty of time to get back for the football games on Friday nights. Corey was no different. Sometimes he would come by my family's house for a visit on the weekends. Sometimes we would talk at the football games. There was definitely the beginning of something emerging. We loved talking to each other. Getting to know each other. We started writing letters to each other and would even talk long-distance on Wednesday nights. That is all that we could afford. One October night, after the homecoming game he gave me a ride home, and it happened... our first kiss. This was an unusual situation. We knew it. But we were falling in love with each other despite the obvious obstacles.