April 5th

Dad called me on the phone today from the road. He asked if I knew what today was...of course, I did!

April 5th is a special day. It's one of those days that are noted on my calendar every year. Thirty three years ago (yikes!) on this day, your dad and I went on our first date. I remember we went to a concert and then to a movie. I don't remember who we saw in concert, but it was at the Main Point - a small coffee shop that showcased up-and-coming singers and bands like Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen. After the concert, we went to see the "Exorcist" at the movie theater.

Your dad and I met in the fall of our freshman year at Villanova in Physics class. I remember the class was held in a big lecture hall and there were several hundred students in the class. The professor seated everyone in alphabetical order and by lab sections, so somehow we ended up sitting next to each other - your dad being the last person alphabetically in his section, and me being the first person alphabetically in my section.

Your dad and I seemed to have nothing in common - he was the hippie type: long hair, jeans with patches all over them, cowboy boots; he was really into music; he had gone to a private high school (class of 40); he had traveled all over the world; I was the jock: shorts, tee-shirts, and sneakers; I didn't own one record album, I never traveled anywhere except to the New Jersey shore; I went to an all-girl Catholic high school (class of 600) We seemed to be complete opposites, but your dad was friendly and outgoing, had a great smile, and a corny sense of humor that made me laugh - we became friends pretty fast. We were "commuters" to campus, which meant we lived at home, so we started hanging out a lot together. I used to take the train to school and your dad had a car (a red Malibu) so he started giving me a ride to and from school. We studied a lot together because we were both Biology majors and had a lot of the same classes. I didn't think of your dad as "date material" when we first met. He didn't fit any of the criteria that I had on my list - the guy I dated would have to be tall, athletic, have a mustache. But the more I got to know your dad, the more I came to realize what a great person he was, what great qualities he had, how much our values meshed. He was kind, funny, respectful to me and my parents, he loved kids, he was honest, he put God in his life, he was hard-working.

We became such good friends but we were both apprehensive about "dating" because we didn't want to jeopardize the friendship if the dating didn't work out. We would go back and forth about it and finally agreed to give it a try. In my mind, I was thinking it was about time....
So that brings us to our first date - a concert and movie. I laugh today when I think of the choice of movie for a first date, and although I have never seen that movie again since that night thirty-three years ago, I can remember parts of it so clearly as if I saw it yesterday. Definitely not my type of movie, but...

Do I believe in fate? Would we have met and become friends if we hadn't sat next to each other in Physics class? What about if we weren't both commuters or Bio majors? I don't think it was a coincidence, but maybe a "God-incidence". Even though your dad ended up in broadcasting, there was a reason he started college as a biology major. Yes, I think things do happen the way they do for a reason - it may not seem apparent at the time or make sense, but it does seem to be a part of a greater plan.... so Happy Anniversary to us on our first date, and the beginning of a life together and a family that I cherish with all my heart!

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