The Hope Chest

Man,,,we must be like,,,18?

This Saturday will be our 28th wedding anniversary! Yea, 28 years and things are going great! As I was thinking about how many days were left and what we we going to do I caught a short glimpse of “The Hope Chest”. Some of you have been here to our place and might have not even noticed it sitting in the downstairs bathroom, and some on the other hand have asked about it. As I like to think, there’s always a story behind something, and I can tell you this… There is a Story behind,,,”The Hope Chest”.

Debbie and I met in High School and we started to date in our senior year. I was a long haired guy running around with his pals and I drove a cool 69 El Camino. The first time I went to Debbie’s house she quickly opened the door and rushed out with not much time to meet the family, I just remember saying Hi to her Dad as he ate his French Fries. Even though Debbie and I had started to date, she kind of had another guy that she had feelings for, and he was a good friend of the family, and he was older, and seemed to have it together. Myself personally speaking, and as father of two daughters, I know what it’s like to have to meet “The Guy” or “A Guy”, and I can only imagine what it must have been like to have two guys that were very different in many ways, and that had an interest in your Daughter to boot! Again I was only 17, had the  Long Hair,and I spent my time hanging out with his buddies and bought my gas with Tip Money,,,but, we won’t talk about sneaking his buddies into the Drive-In Movies,,,another story for another day.

Debbie every now and then would go out with “this Guy ” and I had my guesses as to what was really going on, and yes, she was actually going on a Dates with this guy. After a while Debbie laid it all out on the table and opened up her heart to what was going on inside her. This came about after we both shared our Journals with each other, which was something we did almost on a weekly basis. I guess I could have just gave up on the whole deal after seeing what I had to compete with. However, for many reasons I did not want to let go, and I felt the desire to try and win her heart because there was something very special about Debbie and her family that I wanted to be apart of.

After I started at Saddleback Jr. College and I eventually signed up for a finish carpentry class because I had seen a Hope Chest at a furniture store, but it was way beyond what I could afford, so I thought to myself,,”why not make my own?”. I planned it out, picked out some exotic hardwoods and got to work. I was working with Koa wood from Hawaii, Rosewood, and cedar for the lining. To me as with many things I work on, it was amazing to see it go from a few planks of wood to something I would use to express myself.  I poured all I had into this and it was fun keeping it a secret,,,she had no idea. So it was Christmas, and I knew that I some how had to get over there as they were having their family time as well. So a few phone calls to Debbie’s Dad and a description of what I had to give her for Christmas,,,,and I was invited to come over and give her “The Hope Chest”,,,I was in! Man, now I know how Jack Baur Feels,,,anyway…

We carried in the Hope Chest that was all wrapped up and I set it down and called her in. Now this was it, My Hail Mary Pass, The Half Court Shot at the Buzzer, and My winning Slap Shot in the 7th Over Time—-as the paper came off there was just a sounds of Oooooo’s and Awwweee’s and Debbie had “The Hope Chest” in front of her… “Touch Down!” “Swwwwiishhhhh”, and “He Shots, He SCORES!!”  all wrapped up into one. It might have been a box made of wood, but just as she poured out her heart to me,,,this was my chance to pour mine out to her. And Yes, that following summer she said YES, and we were engaged.

Oh yea,,,,”The Guy”, he was there too,,,that’s him in the Blue Plaid shirt. Debbie could see what this meant, and after a while I think everyone knew that my love for her was TRUE,,, So if you ever get over to our place you’ll see “The Hope Chest” and go ahead, touch it, open it, and enjoy that sweet smell of Cedar.

And Now  you the “REST” of the story!!!,,,,Page two…