HOW I MET MISS PAM
It was August 8th, 1971. My best friend and I were out for a day run on the scooters (He had the Honda 750 and I was on my Kawasaki 500) We pulled into a choke-and-puke on I-45, out by the Goodyear blimp hangar. It's long gone now but the name of it was the Hungry Hobo. I was still smarting, socially, from the business of getting divorced, an experience he'd been through several months earlier. He had a girlfriend but I was still in a kind of shock and hadn't got my social mojo working again as yet.
He called his girlfriend on the phone and found out that she was over at her girlfriends house (Pam's). In his efforts to get me back into my social groove he asked me if I'd like to meet a new girl. I puckered immediately but I knew it would be a good idea so I agreed.
I asked him all sorts of questions about her and he was really vague when I asked him how OLD she was. He said she was about Sharon's age (His girlfriend). I asked him how old Sharon was and he cut his eyes away and mumbled something about how she was ABOUT 20. Well, fine then. Lets go. I was 27 at the time and thought 20 might be a little young for me but what the heck, I wasn't going to marry the girl. It was just a blind date. Yeah right!
So we pulled up in front of Pam's house and I find that she is still living with her parents. Bummer. Definitely not cool.
We went inside and after all the introductions were made my friend suggested we go for a ride on the scoots. Pam's dad said okay but be back by dark. WHAT? Oh never mind lets just ride.
We took off North on I-45 and rode to Huntsville State Park. We rode around there for a while and then headed on back to Pam's house. On the way back we ran into some really hard rain. I'm talkin' about a trash mover and a frog strangler. No gloves or face shield and the rain was stinging badly every place it was hitting bare skin. We pulled up under an over pass (the 830 bridge over I-45) to wait it out and flagged down a nice old couple in a Caddy and asked them to call Pam's folks when they reached their destination to let them know we would be late and why. The rain eventually let up and we made it shortly after dark. Needless to say her dad was very happy with me for being so safety conscious and for being thoughtful enough to flag those nice folks down and have them call and tell what was going on.
So Pam and I began to date. We got alonng extremely well and soon we were approaching the serious stages. One night out on a date she was complaining about having to go home by midnight. I (still thinking she was ABOUT 20) suggested she get her own place. Even though she was just out of high school she had already landed a job as a data processor with Traveler's Ins. Co. So she did have a certain degree of independence, or so I thought. I told her that by the time I was her age I'd seen nearly half of the free world. Time to cut those strings and get on with it.
That's when she dropped the bomb. "Well, I just graduated from high school and my dad might....."
"Hold on a minute there!" I said. "You just did WHAT? What year did you graduate"?
"Oh, just THIS year".
"How old are you"?
"I'll be 18 in October." She was beaming with pride. I was deciding whether or not to jump out of the car and run for the hills. Remember now. I'm 27 at that point.
So we rocked along like that till the Christmas Holidays. BTW I might also mention that my friend and his girlfriend knew that she wouldn't go out with me if she knew my true age just as certainly as they knew I wouldn't date her if I knew she was only 17 so they told me she was 20. So they told her I was 23. At this point we were still unaware of the conspiracy in all it's complexities.
I was invited to go up to the family place with them, in Mena, Arkansas for the holidays. I had already given Pam her engagement ring and the family had accepted me with open arms. But the whole truth had still not come out yet. I knew her true age but she still thought I was 23 and I had no idea that she had been deceived too. I took care of all that about 25 miles south of Texarkana on US-59.
I don't remember the conversation but I happened to blurt out that I was 27 years old. Pam and I were riding in the back seat and her mother turned and shot me a look that told me I was dead meat. That hurt because her mother was an absolute angel. It always makes me uncomfortable when an angel is mad at me.
Her dad didn't look back at me but his head did a little shiver and he got a death grip on the steering wheel. I thought I was about to be put out on the highway for the return trip home and began wondering how long it would take me to walk all the way back to Houston.
In stereo her parents shouted at me..."You're WHAT"?!? "You said you were 23"!
After every one cooled down we talked it out and figured out just what had happened. Her folks were still not happy with their sweet little innocent daughter being engaged to a "worldly" man, 10 years her senior and her fresh as a spring rain. Add to that the fact that I came to the party with a little baggage. Namely an ex wife and a 4 year old daughter which I had full custody of and was raising on my own.
But as time passed they got over it and after the wedding things got smoothed out and they accepted our marriage.
That was on August 8th of 1971. We were married on August 4th of 1972. Now let me try, although I'm bound to fail, to explain why it turned out to be the best move I ever made.
By the time we learned the truth about everyone's age we were already serious and engaged to be married. We talked it out and could think of no reason not to go on with our plans.
Pam was little more than a girl when we met but I'm here to tell you that she has blossomed into the best woman I've ever known. Her love for me is the unselfish kind. The kind where she knows what I need and gives it freely, willingly and enthusiastically. We share every thing. We have complete trust in all things with no reservations.
We TALK to each other. That was a mistake I made in my first marriage. We NEVER talked to each other. I was determined NOT to repeat that in this one.
We agree on most things in life and the areas where we disagree we respect each others feelings and opinions and let it go at that.
I'm thinking back now over all those years and I am just simply amazed. We have been together for 48 years and yet it seems, in many ways, like the twinkling of an eye, one beat of the tiny heart of a small bird. All those years...gone. It seems impossible.
But we know that we have found our life-mates in each other and the richness and completeness of our love is the kind that takes all those years to grow. Our lives have been blessed. I guess we have had our share of ups and downs. Life doesn't discriminate when it comes to passing out bad luck and hard times but each little bad patch has only served to bind us closer together and strengthen our love.
JackandPam. That is just one thing. Apart we are only half of that, individually.
I don't care what else comes my way in this life as long as I have her strength to lean on. Her gentle hand to assure me when I'm low. The sweetness of her kiss. Her loving smile to wake up with each morning. The sparkle in her pretty blue eyes. And the knowledge that it is forever.
I am looking forward to many, many more years of being with her but I'll tell you the truth. If I drop dead this moment, I can go to my grave satisfied that I had a good life. Too late to die young and I've had the best woman I could have ever found.