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[bhunter]

Originally Posted by merrylander

After all these years I decided to give Mike Pearson a rest.

That is much improved. A beautiful woman, rather than that stern picture of Mike Peason. He reminded me of my Junior High principal.

[merrylander]

Well I just changed it again, as Chris noted she was sensitive and so vulnerable that I really must keep her to myself.

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Well I just changed it again, as Chris noted she was sensitive and so vulnerable that I really must keep her to myself.

Why don't you put up a picture of the two of you to remind us all of what is possible?

[merrylander]

Well this was the (private) wedding day and if I look smug the reason is immediately to my left. Of course time marched on but she is still beautiful, me not so much.

However these two photos along with many others decorate the walls of the new playroom. In fact there are four generations of our families on the walls, from our granddaughters to our grandparents.

Oh and I have traced her family (7X Great Grandparents) all the way back to Castile, Spain (But no pictures). It seems the Catholic church kept better records than the Protestants cause I am stuck at my 5X Great Grandfather. The Spanish custom of tacking the mother's original surname onto the end of the boy's surname, and putting the mother's original surname ahead of girl's surname sure helps as well.

[HarmanKardon]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Well I just changed it again, as Chris noted she was sensitive and so vulnerable that I really must keep her to myself.

I see that you are familiar with sensitivity and vulnerability as well which is NO sign of weakness - au contraire.

Wonderful pictures - I would really like to be a part of your family.

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Well this was the (private) wedding day and if I look smug the reason is immediately to my left. Of course time marched on but she is still beautiful, me not so much.

However these two photos along with many others decorate the walls of the new playroom. In fact there are four generations of our families on the walls, from our granddaughters to our grandparents.

Oh and I have traced her family (7X Great Grandparents) all the way back to Castile, Spain (But no pictures). It seems the Catholic church kept better records than the Protestants cause I am stuck at my 5X Great Grandfather. The Spanish custom of tacking the mother's original surname onto the end of the boy's surname, and putting the mother's original surname ahead of girl's surname sure helps as well.

You two are cute as a fairy tale.

[merrylander]

Ed it almsot reads like one, how many men meet their bride to be in a blizzard, court her across 500 miles, and eventually marry.

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by HarmanKardon

I see that you are familiar with sensitivity and vulnerability as well which is NO sign of weakness - au contraire.

Wonderful pictures - I would really like to be a part of your family.

Chris as a family historian I have learned enough to never discount possible relationships, I have found distant cousins all over the place.

Hey this is neat Firefox has a built in spell checker.

[merrylander]

Here are what I consider to be the odd things about our meeting.

1) I left the comfort and safety of my hotel in Virginia and drove off into the blizzard to get to the BWI airport – why? I am smart enough to have known nothing would be flying in the teeth of that storm.

2) Having made it off the beltway I was following a semi trailer up hill and down and around corners at 45 to 50 MPH on Interstate 95 in blinding snow.

3) In spite of the above some driver managed to overturn his semi in a traffic circle on 175 where he could not have been doing more than 30 MPH.

4) When the semi I was following turned off I followed without time to think (We were doing 45 and I was at best three car lengths behind him)

5) The turnoff was at 175 and there was a hotel within 100 yards so I pulled in.

6) Because of the truck in the traffic circle the police had pushed Florence’s car into the hotel parking lot. Her home was on the other side of the traffic circle.

7) She was sitting there looking nervous as some guy had already tried to hit on her so I offered her my protection.

8) I had the night clerk find us two chairs when they closed the restaurant/bar and sat us in a corner. We talked all night about fairly personal things.

9) She would ask me to watch her briefcase when she went to the ladies room, she told me later there was two days receipts from the dress shop in it close to $10,000.

10) They opened the restaurant, we had breakfast, exchanged addresses, shook hands and left. I had the terrible feeling of having left someone behind. My flight was still earthbound until the next day so I phoned to see if she had gotten home safely. The next day about an hour or more before my flight was to leave I called her again, we talked about an hour both admitting to strange feelings about our meeting we really could not explain. Then I wrote that first letter….. We could just as easily have stopped the tide in the Chesapeake as we could have stopped what followed.

[bobabode]

The fates smiled on you that day Rob.