Eleven years ago today, 2005.08.18, was the day I first met Marline in person. After 19 days of
talking to her on the phone (and a few emails before that), she flew from New York City to Oklahoma
to meet me.
Wow, those emails of mine must have been powerful, or I must be an excellent telephone
conversationalist. Whatever it was, those few weeks were enough for this marvelous, accomplished,
intelligent, educated, liberated woman to decide to throw in her lot with me.
I had been devastated by relationships before. Even worse, I had caused devastation in
relationships before. So I was indeed wary. Wary of making another big mistake. Wary of causing
pain (or at best, disappointment) to someone so beautiful and so worthy.
My fears were groundless. When I saw Marline descending the escalator at Will Rogers World
Airport in Oklahoma City, at 10:49:14 (according to the EXIF of the image I recorded at that
moment), my heart leapt within me, yet at the same time I felt a sense of impending calm.
Her visit lasted only a few days, but both of us knew. The chemistry was good enough that she
decided to return two weeks later. And again in October. And again in December. And then I flew
to New York the following March. By June, we were married.
For very few of the changes in my life can I point to a single day and say “That’s
where it all began”, or “that’s the day my life changed forever”. Most
changes have been gradual, with lots of fits and starts. Meeting Marline was a huge exception to
that rule. Aug. 18, 2005, is the day my life changed forever. Nothing after that would be the
same, and I knew it. I knew it when she came down the escalator, and I knew it as I drove the
hour from OKC to my Seminole apartment in a 1993 Chevy Corsica with no air conditioner in
100-degree heat.
I knew even as I drove her on a tour of my tiny town that we would not stay there. I knew
before I met her in person that I had met an intellectual superior, a work ethic that would
take us far, and a spirit that would change how I viewed the world.
And for once in my life, I was completely correct.