Thread by @imaracingmom

1/🧵
Our Love story: Mark & Skip
March 14, 1984
He is my "happily ever after".

Besides being "unique" and not one to belong 100% to any tribe, I was also a hard-core tomboy. I didn't date much as a teen or young adult. Most of the time, I was "one of the guys". I spent more time in the garage working on cars, than hanging in the house doing my nails.
2/

I remember the night before Senior Prom, Ron crying on my shoulder because he didn't have a date. Shit, I didn't even get asked. A friend suggested that Ron and I go, but I helped him save face by quickly saying I didn't have a dress and no time or money to get one.
3/

For years, I'd see this guy in my dreams. I knew exactly what he looked like and I knew I'd spend the rest of my life with him.

But, the years dragged on and I never met him in real life.
4/

Most of the few guys I did date has substance abuse issues, and several were abusive. It was an abusive relationship that got me to leave the town I grew up in and come up here to Brainerd. It was the only way to be safe.
5/

I worked at Perkins Restaurant. A co-worker, Cynthia, and I would hang out sometimes. One night we were there having coffee when I looked across the restaurant and almost peed my pants. I told Cynthia to look because the guy over there looked just like the guy in my dreams!
6/

She said "oh ick, that's Mark". Turns out she went to a Charley Daniels concert with him and a couple of dates. She said he "kisses like a fish" and all he talks about is cars and motorcycles. (Cynthia and I had exact opposite tastes in men).
7/

Mark worked in a factory 5pm-3am. I worked late nights at Perkins. It amazed me I'd never seen him before. I had been at that Perkins for almost 4 years.

I hung out a lot with a guy named Brian. He ended up getting a job where Mark worked.
8/

Brian new about my dream of my "mystery man" and Cynthia told Brian about Mark looking like that guy.

In 1984, Brian asked me to meet him at Perkins for coffee when he got off work. I did and was surprised that Brian had Mark with him.
9/

Brian had 1 cup of coffee and went home. Mark and I sat there talking until 6am.

Turns out, Mark had coffee at Perkins with his co-workers every Thursday (their payday).
10/

Mark started showing up at Perkins on the nights I worked and I started going there in the wee hours on Thursday, the night he went there.

For several months, that way our relationship. Coffee at Perkins. We'd talk for hours. Yep about cars and motorcycles! 2 things I love.
11/

We've been together since that first cup of coffee. In June, I was getting impatient for us to do more than have coffee at Perkins and talk on the phone. I had 2 tickets to the Funny Car championships at Brainerd International Raceway. Being as I had no one to go with me...
12/

I gave the tickets to Mark, hoping he'd ask me to go with him. (I was too chicken to ask him to go with me!!!).

He asked Brian to go with him!!!! LOL

That plan failed...
13/

I gave Brian plenty of shit for stealing my date from me. Somehow, Brian fixed it and Mark asked me to go with him and Brian. And then Brian suddenly couldn't go...

Mark was 15 minutes late picking me up.
14/

Late is a pet peeve of mine, and I let Mark know my displeasure. He's never been late since! We had a blast at the dragraces! I had been going to BIR for many years, since back in the day when it was called Donneybrook.
15/

Sunday night when he brought me back to my car, he asked me to go to a concert with him. And then he asked if there were any other rules he needed to know, besides to never be late again.

I did something I rarely do with anyone - I looked him straight in the eye and said...
16/

I can forgive people for being late. But don't ever hit me. Don't ever lay an angry hand on me. If you do, I'm done. There is no forgiving that. I moved up here to finally break free of that and I'm never going back to that kind of life again.
17/

He stared at me for a minute in stunned silence, and then he leaned over and kissed my forehead and said he's never laid a hand on a woman and he never will.

That was all I needed to know. I was in love with him from the 1st time I saw him, before I ever met him.
18/

We've had some hellashish arguments over the years. I've royally pissed him off more times than I can count. He's said some hurtful things in anger, but no matter how hard I've pushed him, he's never laid an angry hand on me.
19/

After all these years, his eyes still glow when he looks at me. Even though I'm pretty quirky, he has accepted most of my quirks w/o question. When I wanted my own motorcycle, he bought me one. When I wanted to go research my family tree, he sent me on a road trip.
20/

When he senses I'm unusually sad, he holds my hand, makes me a pot of tea, and tries really hard to make me laugh. He's not the type of guy who says "I love you", there are no bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolate. What he does shows he loves me in so many little ways.
21/

One of the biggest ways is the level he shows respect. He never asks me to change. He's extremely proud of me. To this day, he says "thank you" for every meal I prepare. He is my rock, my safe place. He is one of the biggest blessings I've ever been given. I'm so lucky!
~END

RE: Thread above ⬆️

Ha, I suck at keeping "score". I just did the math.
We've been a "thing" for THIRTYEIGHT years!

❤️🥰 Somebody should give that man a trophy. He's put up with my crap for 38 years!!!! 🥰❤️