Our Story

I've so enjoyed reading in others blogs about how they met their wonderful spouses, and I thought I'd join in the fun and share the story of how Bill and I met.

Bill and I both were aerospace engineering majors in college - Bill at University of Cincinnati and me at The University of Texas. Living almost 1200 miles apart, our meeting was no doubt part of God's plan. Both of our schools offered a Co-op program which allowed you to gain work experience in your field by helping you attain a job working for a semester. It just so happens that I had accepted a co-op position with Lockheed Martin in Houston, TX for the 1997 Spring semester, and Bill had done the same thing. And though we were working on the same floor of the Lockheed building, we worked in different groups and never really saw each other. The opportunity finally came on April 10, 1997, just two days before my birthday. The co-op program gave tours of various facilities at NASA Johnson Space Center to the co-ops, and on this particular day we had a scheduled tour of the moon rock facility. So when we first met, we were both wearing "bunny suits" and looking at moon rocks. We didn't really speak much to each other that day, though Bill did ask me afterwards if I knew where the cafeteria was and I said no and went on my way. It turns out he already knew where it was and just used it as an excuse to talk to me.

We ran into each other at work several times the weeks following and then one day Bill sent out an email to all of the co-ops, asking if anyone knew anything fun to do around town, seeing as how he wasn't familiar with the area. I responded to his email and just said I really didn't know (sadly pointing out that I had no life). Later he sent out another email to see if anyone wanted to go see a movie. I gave it some thought, then finally replied and said I would. And what I insisted to my mom was NOT a date, resulted in to my surprise, just Bill and I at a movie theater one Saturday afternoon. Apparently, I was the only co-op to reply; Bill later told me that once I said I'd go, he didn't bother mentioning it again to anyone else. Pretty sneaky. After the movie (Dantes Peak), Bill invited me over for dinner. He said he'd cook, so together we stopped off at the grocery store where he bought everything for a spaghetti dinner, which he cooked spectacularly. I enjoyed talking with him so much that night. Within a few days he had called me to meet him at a nearby park, where we walked and talked some more. We met up several times after that, but what I considered our first date didn't happen until May 9th. He invited me out to dinner at a nice seafood resaurant. He went all out and made the evening so special. After dinner, I found out that it was his birthday and he had used money sent to him for his birthday to pay for our special date. I was so flattered and felt even more special. That night was the start of our committed relationship to each other. We were together all of the time, and even when I left for school in the Summer, Bill continued to come visit me on weekends in Austin. His co-op tour didn't end until Fall semester, at which time he went back to Ohio and we really had to endure a long-distance relationship. But we talked on the phone daily and when I went to visit him in Ohio after Christmas, he propsed to me. We were married approximately 15 months later, March 20, 1999.

Thank you, Sweetheart, for loving me and giving me the life I'd always dreamed of. Happy Valentine's Day - I love you!

A picture taken at the moon rock facility. We're the two short people standing in the middle (Bill is just to the right of me).

Our engagement picture

Just arriving at our reception as newlyweds.