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Corkboard Event
Here’s
a Valentine’s story for you........this is a real love story
by Eddie Harper
In 1984 I enlisted in the US Army. I spent basic training at Fort Knox and
then on to Fort Lee in Virginia. After my training I shipped off to Hanua
Germany just outside of Frankfurt. The job I had was a company supply clerk
that kept me exempt from a lot of duties like guard and CQ (stuff that kept
you up all night). I realized that if I did not have this job and since I
was single I would be one of the lucky ones that got to pull guard and CQ
(even on the weekends). My unit tended to pick the single guys out of the
barracks to pull a number of different duties. Trust me they were usually
not fun to do. I knew that when I get back to stateside that my job would
not keep me exempt from THOSE duties. I also knew that being married would
net me an extra 300 bucks a month (about the same as a car payment). So
being the free minded person that I am, I started working on a plan. As my
tour was ending in Germany I started thinking-who in the states could I
marry just for the last 11months of my stay in the Army and then just get
divorced. Hmmmm.
My whole life I never could commit my deep feelings to anyone. I had
girl-friends, ones that we would meet and let’s just say we would have “fun”
with each other, no dinners, no movies, just “fun”. I thought, I had a few
choices but could we still have our “fun“ relationship and still get
divorced in 11 months. Nahhh!
I had other friends that happened to be girls, but like my guy friends, I
wouldn’t even come close to marrying them (unless there was enough money
there to retire on). Extremely unlikely!!
I had 2 best friends, my cousin Pat: #1 he was a guy. #2 he had no money. He
was immediately struck from the list. My other best friend was someone that
we shared everything with, thoughts, dinners, movies, beds (no sex), TRUST,
shoulders to cry on (mostly mine). I was her prime mechanic and mover. I
would help her; she would help me (mostly I helped her). We just hung out
together and had a good time. Her name was Sondra. We met several years
earlier while I bartended at her parent’s hole in the wall bar. She tended
to have deep and steady relationships while I tended to have quick shallow
ones (after all I was a bartender and 19). Over the next few years Sondra
and I became very good friends.
In late 1983 Sondra, myself, and a very good friend of ours- Melanie decided
to enlist in the U.S. Army together. Our plan was to all meet up in Germany
together. Smell, (which I affectingly called Melanie) didn’t quite make it
thru basic. Sondra ended up getting a medical discharge when a tree fell on
her. Me- I was on my way to Germany for 18 months-alone! We all 3 kept in
touch mostly Sondra and myself.
When I got back stateside and made up my mind to marry someone I figured
Sondra was the only one I trusted well enough that would gladly divorce me
in 11 months. So I just asked her. She said “What, are you crazy!” I told
her that I would pay her 100 bucks a month. She then said, “You are crazy!
“You know I have a boyfriend.” I told her that he didn’t have to know. It
took some talking but she finally realized that I was serious, and she still
said no! Sondra told her roommate of my crazy notion and her roommate
decided to take me up on it, only I wasn’t so sure. She had a big snake and
kept her gallstones in a jar on her mantle (some people think I’m nuts.)
While I was weighing this situation out, Sondra being the good friend she
was decided to keep me from making a big mistake and said that she would
marry me as long as we told NO ONE!
So the wedding plans were on! I had already planned a weekend trip to New
Orleans for Mardi Gras with one of my girl friends, so we decided that when
I got back, Sondra and I would go to a Justice of the Peace and get married
on her lunch hour (she had a tight schedule). While I was in New Orleans
someone hit me in the face with a pipe-hard! I got back from New Orleans
with a real bad black eye, but the wedding had to go on because I was about
to ship off. You can imagine the look on the JP’s face when we walked in to
get married. Bill Todd was his name. He explained to us that we needed a
marriage license. Well Sondra had to get back to work. We worked out a deal-
I would go and get the license and she would meet me the next day on her
lunch hour at the JP’s office. It was just me, Sondra, the JP and his
secretary, which served as the witness. Of course we were asked if this was
some sort of shotgun wedding. While Sondra had her fingers crossed the
ceremony went on and when it came time for me to kiss the bride, Sondra gave
me the DON’T EVEN TRY IT look. We found ourselves married and Sondra had to
get back to work. That day happened to be February 14, Valentines Day. We
didn’t even realize it. Sondra’s boyfriend happened to be out of town that
day or week or whatever. Sondra and her roommate had plans to go out that
evening and invited me. We all went out and had a great time but Sondra and
I were still just best friends (married best friends), but me and her
roommate hit it off pretty well. Actually real well, I spent my wedding
night with Sondra’s roommate (and her gallstones in the jar on the mantle).
I shipped off a few days later to Fort Hood. I spent the next few weeks
making new friends and actually trying to set my new wife up with some of
them (I really didn’t like her current boyfriend). They thought I was
joking! My new buds and I would load up in my new car and head down to
Houston and party. We would mostly end up at my parents where we would spend
the weekend playing poker. Occasionally Sondra would join us. She’s a good
poker player.
Sondra ended up getting her own apartment, got tired of the snake and the
gallstones I guess. She would let us come down and crash at her place. Try
as I may to fix her up she just did not like my buds well enough to date any
of them. As time went on my friends gave up and moved on to other prospects.
I would still come to Houston to visit my family and my best friend, Sondra.
One weekend I came down and Sondra and her boyfriend had broken up. I can’t
remember why they broke up, but I do remember her not too broken up about
it. We ended up spending the weekend together. And what a weekend! We
consummated our wedding. That was in September. From that weekend forward I
would drive down from Ft. Hood or she would drive up. Our parents were
beginning to wonder about these two best friends that were spending a whole
lot of time together. We finally told them all what we had done. Talk about
jaws hitting the ground! We were in love. I hated to leave Houston every
weekend and couldn’t wait to come back.
That Valentines Day was over 21 years ago. Over the years I got to know a
lot of people that admire the relationship Sondra and I have. I sincerely
believe that folks that look for love will rarely find it. I believe that
love comes to you and it may be right next to you. You just have to
recognize it.
I consider myself extremely lucky. I married my best friend. Best friends
will stick with you thru thick and thin, just as mine has.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SONDRA, and Valentines too! I LOVE YOU!
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