How We Met
(or the You Want me to do
WHAT?? page)
Pat and I met sometime in 1988 - the date has never really been established! I was sharing office space with a great guy and still today a good friend, Bob Strom. When I came to Watertown, NY in 1987, I came with two business partners to build modular homes. I also taught real estate courses - I've been a real estate broker since 1982. We needed space to conduct business, and I had met Bob at a local politico tavern swapping dirty jokes with him. Obviously, we hit it off!
Pat had known Bob for several years, and one day I walked into my shared office space, and there was Pat - sitting with his feet up on my desk. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy.
You don't really want me to repeat what I said to him, but the cleaned up version is, Hi, I'm Lin - get your feet off my desk! He retorted, Hi, I'm Pat - who the #$#@ are you? I knew it was love at first site! <g>
Pat had just
gotten out of a long-term marriage, and I had been divorced for over 15 years.
Since I was in Watertown to build housing, and Pat had just passed his Licensed
Master Plumber's exam and had his own business
P.S.G.
Plumbing, Heating and Air-Conditioning
our friendship seemed like a sure thing - we were both a little nutsy, we both liked to have fun, and we didn't want commitments. We were working on a project for the then police chief of the city - I was doing the house, Pat the plumbing and heating and Bob the site development. We all met at my then apartment (this was in 1990) and had pizza. Bob took off and Pat stayed... that was the end of the 'no commitment' thing!
Pat had several gals he was seeing (He always boasts he's no saint!) and I was going with a guy from Florida and had planned to move there - those plans went down the toilet, so to speak! Pat moved out of his apartment and in with me, and 3 months later, we were married. WOW - not bad for no commitment!
Pat asked me to marry him in the strangest way - we went out one night for dinner and drinks and while sitting in a bar, he remarked - you know, I have this wonderful little Irish Catholic mother who will never understand if we live together - would you marry me? Choking on my drink, I said - hold that thought - I'm going to the ladies room -buy me another drink. I scurried off, and talked to myself for about 45 minutes - it worried him so that he sent in the waitress to see if I had made it out the bathroom window! When I came out, I said - Sure... I will... (and then stopped, and thought to myself - what the heck did you just say????)
I must admit - we have a wonderful relationship - we are best friends first that happened to be married to each other, and we only wish that for our friends as well. We must be doing something right - we've been married almost 11 years... and they've never had a fight! <g>
Our Wedding Day, October 17, 1990