August 11th 1984. What A Day That Was! 8/19/2016

Good Morning,

My mug is filled with some Sunrise in Door County Coffee this happy Friday morning. Nothing like a sunrise and a hot cup of coffee.

I want to reminisce about a day that changed my life forever. It started with a youth group, a canoe trip and a co-worker.

In 1984 I was a single man even though I always say I have been married for a thousand years. I was on the market, available and yet not a whole lot of women were breaking down the door to spend time with a macho man. Hard to believe isn't it?

My work in church at that time was "youth leader". I had pretty much resigned myself to singleness and was content with life. On Saturday August 11th 1984 we had planned a youth group canoe trip to Waupaca Wisconsin to canoe the mighty Crystal River with an outfitter named Dings Dock. This is designed to be a lot of fun and it is a ball! It was to be about a three hour tour. We were a little short on adult chaperones and I enlisted a couple of my buddies to help us out. We still needed an adult body or two. I had started working at the hospital in 1983 and made a few friends. One friend and co-worker asked me what my plans were for the weekend and I explained the canoe trip and our lack of adults. My co-worker friend replied that she liked canoe trips and wouldn't mind helping out. I jumped at the chance to fill our roster of needed adults.

Saturday came and 72 teenagers and a few adults headed to "Dings Dock". The trip has a few sets of small rapids and the canoes are designed it seems, to tip over. If you and your partner can complete the river trip without tipping over at all you are extremely talented and quite boring. We set all the kids up with partners and my two buddies jumped into a canoe to set the pace for all. They made it 50 yards and flipped. That left me and my co-worker to partner up and battle the river. We had become pretty good friends at work, but I really was worried as to how she might respond, not if we tipped over but when. Well we made it about three hundred yards and tipped over, sinking the canoe. While getting back into the canoe, we tipped over again. My co-worker had such a robust laugh while navigating our antics with that stupid canoe that I soon found myself laughing and splashing with her and others. I hadn't found too much to laugh about in the two years prior to this outing. Life had been pretty tough.

Long story short, we finished the trip, returned to Milwaukee and made sure all the teens were picked up or were given a ride home. It was pretty late and we hadn't really had much to eat at the cookout after the trip. I offered my co-worker a pizza and a Coke midnight snack at a local Italian food emporium near her apartment. While eating pizza we talked and laughed, reliving some of the day. It was soon about 1:30 AM and the restaurant was closing. I walked her to her door and we shook hands. I thanked her for a great day and all of her help with the teens. I asked if I could see her again next week and she laughed and said "of course, we work together".  I explained that I was thinking about the next weekend for a dinner and a movie. Lucky for me she said yes. We have been eating pizza together ever since. I married my co-worker Laurene, who I call Rene. (Reenee) 

Matthew 7:7
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you

I forgot to mention that I had been praying to meet someone and on 8/11/1984 I never prayed for that again.  I am not sure that Rene recalls the exact date of the beginning of our life together, but I do. It was a day that Beauty met the Beast and laughter was restored to my life.

Have a great day!

Marty