Family

In October of 1983 I made the most important phone call of my entire life. I was attending my first year of college at the University of Houston. I had no plan, and no idea what I was doing at all. In July of that year I had been diagnosed with Hodgkins disease (which I kicked in November of the same year). This was quite a blow for me. In my mind I decided that I had no more reason for living and would just as soon lay down and die from it. Luckily I have great family and friends. They refused to let me succumb to the disease and instead made me receive treatment and continue living as if there was nothing wrong.
While I was at college my roomate and long time friend, Jonathan Keller, was constantly trying to set me up on various blind dates with women he hadn't even met himself. Somehow he found some intercollege personals listing on a computer and became obsessed with trying to hook me up with these women. I of course wanted no part in it, I mean, who would want a scrawny bald man who didn't have a care in the world? One night I finally gave in to Jonathan's hampering and called one of these women. To this day, I have never regretted making that phone call and I probably never will. I had no idea that the woman on the other end of the line would end up being my future wife.

Grace and I talked on the telephone for six and a half hours that night. To this day neither of us can figure out why we found it necessary to pour out our hearts to a complete stranger. We found we had a lot of things in common, not just general interests like sports, but a lot of the concerns and things floating in our heads were the same. I've never shared so much with a person in a single evening.
The following weekend I jumped in my truck and drove to Dallas so we could meet and spend an afternoon together, that's all it was supposed to be, an afternoon. I ended up spending the entire weekend there with her, which, to say the least, made her fiance rather upset. Yes, she was engaged at the time. She had shared with me her desire to remove herself from the relationship but felt stuck in it by the wishes of her family. They wanted her to "grow up and marry a rich man, stay at home and have lots of kids." Grace wanted no part in this plan. She wanted to "grow up" and be in cop, or a Federal Agent, probably, she said, "just stay single forever, never have kids, and work my butt off." I don't know if my influence had much to do with it, or if she just finally came to her senses and put her foot down, but she broke up with this "fiance" two weeks before they were supposed to be married. Her parents blamed me, and consequentially, haven't ever much liked me, but as my daughter says, "Whatever."
Grace and I spent a lot of time together over the following months. She really opened my eyes to a lot of things, and but more importantly made me feel loved and wanted. I can say I think she felt the same; to finally be with someone who would just let her be herself and do what she wanted to do. We seemed to be a perfect match. because I wasn't about to tell her what to do, and children weren't supposed to be an issue. I had been told, when I was 15 years old, that I would not be able to produce children...but the diagnosis was obviously very wrong.
After only knowing each other for a little bit more than two months, I proposed in the pouring rain. It's funny how the weather has an affect on people's senses. One night, I was just overcome with the urge to dance around and profess my love for her (sounds corney, eh). Luckily, she didn't think I was insane and accepted my sudden proposal. On April 17, 1984 we were married. Just a short and simple ceremony with our close friends and family. Strangely, four weeks later we found ourselves expecting. I love how God has His way of dropping people right where they need to be at the right times. Adriana Desiree was born on February 12 and not a day goes by that we don't thank the big guy for her. She keeps us on our toes. Five years later another followed. Duncan Gabriel was born on May 11, 1990. Duncan amazes us, he's one of the most intelligent kids we know, and I'm not just saying that because he's our son. 17 months ago, we received our largest surprise yet. On September 12, 2000 Gavin Thomas and Charles Gordon were born. Gavin and Charlie were a very unexpected surprise, but we love them tremendously, and realize life couldn't be complete without them, orAdriana and Duncan.
:o)