Part 3: Running in the Sprinklers and Climbing a Building

So, it was finals week. I had a final at 8 am and we were studying in Fremont Hall to try to avoid running into folks and getting distracted. It was crowded and quiet. I have no idea what time it was, but Kenny suddenly stood up and said he would be back in a while. "Okay," I thought. When he gets back I'm done for the night. Well, he was gone FOREVER. I was irritated when he got back and wanted him to walk me home. So we head up to tower 1 and as I am opening my door he asks if we can talk. "Really, right now? I'm tired and I have finals." I said to myself. But you know, outwardly, I knew that if he approached me with a conversation in hand I wasn't going to pass it up. So he hands me an envelope, I think. (Some of the details are lost now, how sad.) It was a clue and some kind of crazy puzzle.

So for the next hour or so I went to several places on campus. We headed down to the high jump cushion (I know, not the right term) on the track where we would go to talk on occasion. We stood there for a moment looking for the rose he'd left and the sprinklers came on! We raced out of the spray and headed to a few other locals...his dorm and the dining hall, I think. Anyway, I found a rose each place and puzzle pieces. And, finally, he took me somewhere I had never been...and I haven't been there since. We climbed to the roof of the faculty office building down by the spider building. I wasn't really sure I wanted to climb to the roof, but I did. He must have gotten directions from someone because really it was easier than finding a faculty office in that silly building. The roof is flat and there are points on certain stairways you can see the roof. It is a great view of Cal Poly from up there. I would tell you to visit, but I couldn't give you directions if my life depended on it. (And, after 15 years I am sure that if the word got out, you can't possibly get there anymore.)

Back to the story...Then, he told me that he wanted me to be his girlfriend. Really, we knew it didn't change much for us. We knew that we wanted to date with marriage in mind, but we also knew we weren't near that point of our lives either. I'm sure he said some very sweet, complimentary, and godly things--he always does. But, let's be honest, I don't remember because I was giddy. I'm pretty sure I didn't even remember the very next morning. He had taken the exit off the freeway and flagged me down to follow. Yipee!

It took me forever to figure out the puzzle. It wasn't interlocking; it was cut with an exacto knife in a rectangle with a cross in the middle. It did have a verse on it: "Apart from you I have no good thing." I never would have figured it out. I asked him the next day to help me. I still have it...somewhere in the box of crazy stuff I've kept over the years.

So, in December of 1995, just over a year after we met, we were a couple. In fact, it was December 7th to be exact, Pearl Harbor Day. I won't ever forget. It seems so crazy that we have been a couple for 15 years and married for just over 10! It was a beginning of something new...