My life partner.

I would not be where I am today without the love and patience of one of Gods greatest gifts and answers to prayers in my life — Aimee Kristen Saunders (aka Wife, Mom to my kids, Hun, and “Yes Dear”).

The Early Days

Aimee and I met some twenty plus years ago in Raleigh, North Carolina.

We both agree that at first neither was to “thrilled” with the other. Ya know that first impressions. However, we got to know each other better during the Summer of ’86. We came to enjoy our time with mutual friends during our time off from work.

She was working at a local saloon doing sculptured nails and I was working at local landscape company planting trees and scrubs.

During a party that included a pool volleyball game on Labor Day weekend, I spiked the ball on a rather unsuspecting Aimee playing front-line on the other team. Well it seems that kinda pissed her off. Later that afternoon her friends and her proceeded to push my butt in the pool after the sun had started to set. It was a rather fast and freak accident of me grabbing the ladder coming out of the pool and attempting to swing around to the other side to stay out of the water that caused my toe to be caught on the metal stairs and cut a rather nasty gash in it. I don’t know maybe she felt sorry for slicing my big toe wide open and causing it to bleed all over the place that turned on the “nurse” in her. Anyhow, she got some first aide for my damaged toe and spent a bit of time letting me know that she was sorry for causing the incident that was a direct reaction from my earlier spike.

We spent the evening yaking and came to realize both actually had a lot in common that we had not realized prior to this event. We had both gone to the same High School, Athens Drive. We had mutual high school friends that we had grown apart from in the years since High School. We like basically the same type of music.

A romance was started because of a spike and a sliced toe.

Now can anyone else out there say that??

God you have got to be kidding right?

During the Fall/Winter of ’87 we had moved in together with another roommate to save a bit of money. Aimee and I had one bedroom and the other roommate had hers. It was a very strange arrangement and had it’s short-coming and benefits. We were young and falling in love so we could get around some of the more stranger events.

This time frame of my life I was working on a Tree Digger Truck, it was a 60 inch double tandem axle beast that dug up 20′ to 30′ trees and transplanted them to client sites. The driver was Jon and I was the co-pilot (aka helper). Jon and I spent a lot of time on the road going to and from dig sites. We talked about all sorts of junk, the latest concert, politics, trees, the company, and girls. We had both come up with our “perfect” girl requirement list, the top three things we wanted in a woman. Our list differed a bit to say the least, but were similar in the forth and fifth positions in regards to loyalty and desire to have kids, sometime in the future.

I had gotten out of relationship that had been rather tough to part ways. I knew the lady was not the right fit for me, but I cared a lot for her. Jon had bounced from woman to woman in search of the one that was right for him. Both of us were approaching our mid-twenties and most of our “friends” had been married or were planning marriage which kinda prompted the whole discussion one road trip.

Anyhow, we both swore to never share our list with anyone else, and most importantly with our current girlfriends.

Fast forward to the Fall of ’87. Jon and I were enjoying some down-time at the pool. When we heard the rumble of my girlfriends volkswagon coming home for the day. Aimee, giggle, had a VW that kept dropping the mufflers off the engine so it would blat, blat, POP her arrival wherever she went in the little green bug. She stopped at the office/pool and came through the gate in a rampage of what had happened because of a co-workers mistake in regards to her hair.

She exclaimed, “Look what that idiot did to my hair”!

I looked at Jon, and said in a hushed voice, “You told her, you fuck, you told her my list didn’t you”?

Jon mumbled back, “No man, you should know I would never have done that to you”.

As Aimee walked closer to the two of us sitting in the last of the days Sun’s rays on the opposite side of the pool, I was taken with the fact that well God you fixed it didn’t you. You fixed it that this is my future wife. I got up and tried to console her on the fact that her hair looked great and it really wasn’t a bad job. The fact that it was totally red wasn’t such a bad thing. The color would come out over time.

You see, my list was rather simple:
1. Believed in the Lord almighty as our savor.
2. Loved to …. as much if not more than I.
3. Was a red head.

I’d been yak’n with Jon that Summer that Aimee had two out of the three but she was not a red head, so I guess she was not the one God had intended for me to spend the rest of my life with in marriage.

*Snicker*

So the Good Lord let me know that, “Hey dumb ass, she’s the one for you. You asked for it, so here she is and don’t doubt my ability to answer prayers”!

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