Henry & Doreen Wedding Day 2004
- Henry & Doreen 1979
My life like so many, has many twists and turns. Some good , some bad. I am told you can’t have one without the other. My journey with time started in July 1978. I had just graduated high school and was working at Piedmont Federal Savings and Loan in Manassas, Virginia. I got promoted from week-end teller to bookkeeper. I now worked at the main branch in downtown Manassas. This was quite a big event in my life, finally done with school and on my way with a career path. I had been working at the main office for about a month when Henry paid attention to me. Very handsome, very fun, I was instantly intrigued and very smitten. He found out I was 17 and told me he would like to ask me out but not until I turned 18. ( Smart guy!) I turned 18 in September a few short weeks later. We started dating, seeing each other every minute we could. We kept our relationship private at work, not knowing if they would approve or not. But the nights and weekends we were together all the time. Going out of town, partying in DC and with friends, just doing all the things young people love to do. One of our favorite things was just to get in the car and go for a drive and see what adventure we could find. We fell in love quickly and deeply, each feeling as though we had been put on this earth for each other. We couldn’t get enough of each other. In February of 1979 we decided to go away on a big weekend “anywhere warm we could get on the money we had!” We went to a travel agency and booked a weekend to Biloxi Mississippi. Friday night after work we flew down and enjoyed a wonderful, warm Saturday at the beach, but Sunday when we woke up it was freezing cold, and a huge winter storm covered the whole east coast with snow, and ice. Airports were all closed and we couldn’t get home. We boarded our flight that day and they routed us to Memphis and that was a far as we were going to get until Monday morning. Now that meant that we both had to call in “stranded” to the same place of work the next day. Anyway, needless to say they figured out we were dating. They were cool though and just told us to be smart with our relationship while at work. This allowed us the freedom to have lunch and be together even more. We loved it.
In Spring 1980 Henry got a good job offer in Houston Texas. We broke up. I made one trip down to see him, but this didn’t go very well. So we went our seperate ways. I wrote him some but that ended in 1981. I moved to Atlanta, in 1983 I married. After a divorce I married again in 1989. I raised a family and lived my life. Henry and I never talked, saw, communicated or anything from 1981 until 2004. We didn’t know anything about the other. We both now say that we thought of each other, wondered about each other. Not in a true romantic way, but more in the This Person Meant So Much To Me I Hope They Are Well And Happy Way. We all have people that stick with us for all kinds of reasons. I often wanted a crystal ball just to see if he was ok. That seemed important, because I always wanted great things for him. And he for me.
In 2004 I made the decision to move back to Manassas, my marraige was ending and I wanted to be near my family. Kids were in college and sprung out of the nest and I was really searching for my next step. I knew my husband and I both had to move on. Moving back home felt right. April 23, 2004 I boarded a plane to Virginia to discuss this with my parents, lunchtime in Virginia - I ran into Henry. The story starts.
