My wife… Part I – the Mabank years…

 [Just a warning, this one should really satisfy all of you gaggers and eye-rollers out there!]

Ok, so fast-forward roughly 18 years, a handful of less-than-par male pursuers, and a lot of moves across the country, and you’ll end up in the thriving metropolis of Mabank, Texas.  I grew up in East Texas, spending my high school years in Whitehouse, to be exact.  We had quite the soccer team, and Mabank was in our district.  Mabank’s soccer program was brand new.  My team had been playing together since we were in elementary school.  It was my sophomore year, and Heather’s senior year (she’s only 11 months older than me… but sophomore to senior, that’s a canyon in high school!).  We traveled to Mabank to play them for the first time.  My dad describes that night as one of coldest nights he’s ever experienced.  Think <30 degrees with a 30-40 mph north wind, and Mabank is like a prairie… at least where the highschool is.  There might have been some sleet involved, too, can’t remember for sure.  I digress.  We’re playing outside, and there is a basketball game going on about 150 yards away in the auditorium.  No, we did not have a chance meeting, I didn’t actually see Heather or anything along those lines.  But she was there.  And the thought that at that soccer game, within yelling distance, was my future wife, is kind of cool to me.  The final score of the game was 21 – 1, in our favor.  I even scored (I was always on defense, and never scored). 

Looking back now, I wonder if my goal was a foreshadowing of the future – a foreshadowing of the “score” I would make in such a wonderful wife 8 years later who would “warm” up the life I had that I didn’t know was so cold until I met her.  There ya go - that long, drawn out story for an extremely cheesy ending!

Here’s another high school picture – I think one of you fellow bloggers might have actually taken this one? 

Wait, is that a softball, or is that my heart?

Ok I’ll stop…

To be continued…

- Nathan