Starting Out as Husband and Wife

Once we arrived as husband and wife in Arlington, I began applying for jobs. God has always taken care of us as I found a position as a Customer Service Representative for EBSCO Subscription Services in Springfield, Virginia, before June ended. We only had one car, so I took the Metro to work. That was good because I didn’t have to fight traffic. Even thought I was going against traffic with going from Arlington to Springfield, this was still traffic that I was not used to. The bus dropped me off at the back of the office complex, and I walked a beaten path up a grassy hill to the EBSCO offices. You continued as DP3 at the Naval Annex.

One of the first things I remember is a spat we had over money in the first couple weeks of marriage. I was going to go cool off and left the apartment. (Actually, that’s not really true. My “fight” mode is to rob you of my company when I’m mad. You always thought that was hilarious, because it’s logical that you wouldn’t want to be around me anyway if you were mad.) I got out to the sidewalk and realized I couldn’t get in the car, because we couldn’t afford gas just to go running around. So, I sat down on the stoop of the apartment building until I got hot. I thought about going in and calling my mother, but then realized we couldn’t afford long distance charges. So, I went back in and said, “I guess I’ll talk to you. You’re all I’ve got.” We talked a lot over the years about how those two years were so good for our marriage. They forced us to work together and form an inseparable team.

One thing of significance this summer is that our little one bedroom apartment did not have air conditioning. We spent a lot of time at the Springfield Mall just to get cool. And, we joked that if we couldn’t afford food, we ate fancy. We had a credit card to Shilito’s, and they had a Benigan’s restaurant. We loved to eat there.

Our apartment didn’t have a washer and dryer, either, but the apartment complex had a laundromat of sorts. We’d spend our evenings making and eating dinner, watching television, and running back and forth to wash clothes. One of your favorite songs is Alan Jackson’s “Livin’ on Love” because it tells our story so well. We were definitely livin’ on love in those early years, but those were some of the happiest because we had each other. You are not only my husband, but my best friend and mentor! I will forever love you!!!