17.
“Thirty-five years ago, I called off my wedding. I was a young naval officer and set to marry the woman I’d fallen in love with at college. I got cold feet three days before the event and canceled it. It wasn’t because I had had second thoughts about her; it was the stupid idea that I thought I could be either a good husband or a good submarine officer — I didn’t think I could be both. About nine months later, I got a call from her (about 1,000 miles away) and found out that she had a new boyfriend. It just devastated me. I did everything I could to regain her confidence, but it took almost a year.”
“During that year, I was stationed at the submarine base in Bangor, Washington, and she was 2,400 miles away in Cincinnati with that POS rich boyfriend hounding her daily. It really took a toll on me. I had many sleepless nights imagining the worst. I didn’t give up, though. A few months before we were scheduled to relocate to Submarine Squadron 1 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, I took a chance and drove to Cincinnati. I convinced her to come back to Bangor with me and made the trip through the Southwest and then back up the California coast along the Pacific. It was as much like a honeymoon as I could make it on my limited salary, and it was memorable. By the time we reached Washington, Mount St. Helens had erupted. We were on the highway about 40 miles from it when it blew. The sky just turned black, and the mud flows washed out the bridges north of us. We were rerouted along the coast and finally made it to Bangor. She had to return to Cincinnati, but this time it was with the plan to return to Washington. When she flew back, we eloped with a justice of the peace. That was almost 33 years ago. We have three sons, and we couldn’t be happier. Our boys are all grown up, and I’m not far from retirement. Marrying her was the best, smartest thing I ever did.”
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