A - Z Blogging Challenge 04.18.2026

 

Well, friends, I am back to my old tricks.  Writing this post the day that it needs to be published.  Next week at this time I will be happily winging my way to LONDON.  Pinch me!! I still have 10 letters of the alphabet to write about so I guess I will be publishing from the UK.  How crazy is that?

Today's letter for the A - Z Blogging Challenge is P.  The greatest glimmer in my life that begins with the letter P is my husband Paul.  My PC.  Let me tell you why.

P is for PC

Pretty sure sometime in my 11-ish years of blogging on my WordPress blog, I did a piece about how PC and I found each other.  I was sad to have to walk away from that old blog because I lost so much of what I had written.  Tried to save some favorite posts but wasn't able to keep everything.  

So at the risk of being repetitive, I am going to share a condensed (I hope) version of our love story.  I had kissed a lot of frogs (and a couple of nice guys in my life) before PC contacted me on Match.com.  But the spring of 2003, I was twice divorced and feeling very off-course for the trajectory I had envisioned for my life.  I remember thinking over and over that I was supposed to be happily married in this season.  My daughters were in high school.  I had been a school librarian for 15 years.  Would soon be facing an empty nest and didn't want to be alone.

Take a Chance

These are the photos PC and I had on our Match.com profiles.  His was not nearly as pixelated as it appears below but mine was definitely blurry.  

Paul sent me a message on Tuesday and we agreed to meet for dinner at Applebees on Thursday evening.  I was immediately impressed because not only was PC very handsome but his profile (and message to me) was well-written and properly punctuated.  If you haven't dated in awhile, you can't imagine how rare that is!!

When we met in the parking lot at the restaurant, both of us commented on the other's blue eyes.  Then I apologized for the oozing scrape I had on my left knee from a spill I had taken that day while running on my lunch hour at school.  The scrape was so bad that I couldn't wear pants or panty hose over it for days so showed up in a pair of culotte-type shorts.  Little did I know that PC was never a fan of culottes.  So I started out the night with a couple of strikes against me.

I regained some ground once we were seated and I told Paul I would like to pay for my own meal as we were meeting for the first time and I didn't feel like it was fair for 'the guy' to always have to pick up the tab.  He said that was a first!!  Apparently, his dates before me had been all about a free meal.

One apple-tini in, though, I decided to go for broke.  I spilled my guts.  No holes barred.  I told PC my whole generally unsuccessful life story.  Failed marriages, 2 teen daughters dealing with all the teenage angst, financial woes, and a whole houseful of pets - dogs, cats, bunnies, fish, turtles.  Incredibly, he didn't get up mid-dinner and walk out.  Instead, he shared all of the hardships he was facing as a soldier and single dad with custody of his daughter and son.  

We were both tired of sharing our 'stories' on dates and decided it was better to just cut to the chase and put it all on the table that first night.

We're Not Done Yet

Dinner lasted a couple of hours.  We had a second apple-tini a piece but it was a weekday evening so we called it a night fairly early.  PC walked me to my car and I asked for a hug.  He was taken aback.  How very forward of me!!  He very reluctantly went in for a kind of sideways hug but I put both my arms around him.  None of this sideways business for me.  I wanted to get a good feel for him/of him.  

Paul started to pull away from my embrace but I told him we weren't done hugging yet.  He laughed nervously but allowed me to cling to him a little longer.  I figured, what the heck, I might not ever hear from him again.  And I needed a hug.  

The next day, Paul messaged me and asked if I would like to go to a matinee with him on Saturday.  Yes.  YES!!  But I worried...if I was the matinee date, who was the Saturday evening date?  

We went at the movies - I can't remember what we watched - maybe "The Matrix."  And you can bet I went in for another hug when we said goodbye at our cars.    Later that next week, Paul asked me to go to a Double A baseball game with him and his son, Matt, who was in fourth grade at the time.  I made the mistake of patting Paul's leg during the game to which he was quick to remind me his son was sitting right there and PDAs were not allowed.  What a troublemaker I was!!

Five Years of Dating 

Yup, we dated for 5 years.  We had both been very badly burned, remember?  The photo below was taken on the first anniversary of our first date.  We sat at the same table at Applebees and I wore the same culottes.  

We were both determined that we would never go through a divorce again.  Early in our relationship, I was probably the most committed but about the mid-way spot in our 5 years, I started getting cold feet and PC became more invested.  

One summer Sunday morning about 4 years in, we walked up McKelligon Canyon with the Sunday paper, coffee and doughnuts.  On our way back down the mountain, Paul suggested we go look at engagement rings later that day.  We picked one out but I asked him to keep it for a few months.  That following October, while we were looking a houses - something I have always loved to do - Paul proposed to me.  We were standing on the balcony of a house under construction, facing the mountains.  Paul said he couldn't promise me that life would always be easy, that we would always have everything we wanted but he could promise me he would always love me and try to give me the very best life.  And that was good enough for me.  

We were married the following summer.  Actually twice.  Once in a justice of the peace ceremony in July and another time during a blessing of our marriage and new home that September.  We wanted to be sure this marriage 'took.'

Glimmers 

Our life hasn't been hiccup free but what life, what marriage is?  It has been far more good days than difficult days.  There are glimmers or little blessings in just about everyday.  PC loves my daughters and grandbabies.  That is HUGE. And we have the sweetest life together - a comfortable home, nice yard, good health, and lots of fun together.  Paul is patient, balanced, funny, intelligent, fun-loving and still knows how to punctuate correctly.  

I wrote about heart rocks in an earlier A - Z post, here.  I love that PC looks for heart-shaped rocks everywhere we go.  He buys me the most beautiful jewelry - often heart-shaped. Paul is game to do just about any kind of craziness I come up with for us to try.  

And now in retirement, we are traveling and experiencing all kinds of new adventures.  For a couple of months right after Paul retired, I was afraid we would kill each other with so much time together.  But I think I can say we are each other's best friends and have adjusted well to this new season.

I am so glad I didn't scare PC away with my culottes, oozing, open wound and bear hug that first date night.

Your Turn

What relationships are blessings in your life?  I wrote about the glimmers that are my grandbabies in an earlier A - Z post, here.  And my kitties, here.  Probably new to put together something that recognizes what blessings my daughters have always been.  Stay tuned for that.

I have been so lazy today.  Need to get my bootie up and do something productive.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, friends.  Thank you for stopping by to visit!!

Hugs and kisses,