The Mechanic and I Part 2
You can start our courting and marriage story at "The Mechanic and I Part 1"
Continued......My father owns his own business. The mother of “The Mechanic” worked for my dad. I was visiting home in the summer and stopped into my father’s office. While I was waiting to take my father to lunch I made small talk with the mother. She gave me a quick report on “The Mechanic” and provided me with his address. He lived in Serbia and was serving a mission for our church.
I wrote him once while he was gone and frankly never thought of him after that, remember we weren’t close.
The following year I found myself looking for more in life. After years of partying and dating, I decided to return to the faith that I was raised in and that I had abandoned years ago. I decided to pray; in this prayer I apologized to God and he released the hold that my previous life had on my soul. I stopped partying, but boys were still my crutch. At this time I was dating a college football player that happened to be on parole. (I know) He was tall and muscular and hot, however he really had nothing interesting to say. What a catch!
During this time my best friend from high school was getting married. I was so excited. I rushed home to my small town and spent the week with her preparing for the big day. I never could do much on my own so I brought my football playing parolee home with me. Although he was from Texas, he had an aunt near my hometown. He stayed with my family and wanted to visit his aunt once or twice during the week we were home.
My best friend’s husband happened to be the brother of “The Mechanic”. The wedding was scheduled for the weekend after my future husband returned from Serbia. Again I found myself at church and my “Mechanic” was slated to speak. He was asked to share his experiences in Eastern Europe. I sat on the 4th row and was up close and personal. As he spoke he couldn’t stop staring at me. I definitely took notice and slid slowly away from my parolee. I quickly thought of how gossip would spread around my small town and needed to hatch a plan. I told my best friend that the boy I brought home was not my boyfriend….. (Lie). I knew she would tell her fiancé and he would let it slip to his brother... my man. Church was over and I watched how families with eligible daughters were quickly moving in on “The Mechanic” like lions at the watering hole.
The following day I told my parolee to stay at his aunt’s house for the next week until after the wedding when we would return back to Utah.
The week went smoothly, we prepared for the upcoming wedding and the gossip about my relationship status spread just how I had thought. I knew “The Mechanic” was shy and would never ask me out, so I called him up. We made plans for the following day, Wednesday.
My parents were ecstatic. They couldn’t believe I was dating such a nice guy (later when my husband asked for my hand, my dad let him know I came with a car). Anyway, it was Wednesday night and I was waiting for him to arrive.
He never did.
He stood me up. I couldn’t believe it, my first and only time. However, I obviously forgave him. We went out the following night and stayed out until early morning, talking and getting to know each other. By the end of the weekend we both started to see what was in our future. However I lived in Utah and had to head home that Sunday. Driving home with my ex was really fun. We didn’t talk most of the way except for him to ask me if “he” (The Mechanic) was the one. I told him yes he was. I dropped my ex off at his home and never saw him again.
“The Mechanic” and I wrote and talked over the next 6 months. I received poems written on graph paper and cereal boxes. There were many late night phone calls and cookies through the mail.
We were married. This was the easiest decision of my life.
It is 16 years and 3 children later. “The Mechanic” is still tan with surfer hair. He has wrinkles from his smile and is madly in love with his children. Who would have thought that those little moments throughout our life would have led to this? At times I find myself staring at his neck when he looks away. I touch his calloused hands and think to myself how thankful I am for the man that he is.
You never know who you will love. I always tell people how blessed I was to recognize true and eternal love when he came my way.
It was him. It was him all along.
