May 24th, 1980

I am foregoing this week's "Maedeup Monday" for a very good reason. Today is our 30th wedding anniversary. Yep, 30 years ago I married Rocketman.

The story of how I met Rocketman begins the summer of 1979. I had just completed my first year of college and was no closer to choosing a major. My father got me a summer job in the company where he worked and I was not thrilled that I was to start the following Monday after just arriving home from college. But I soon fell in love with my job and also my co-workers. We were a great group and I enjoyed working as an inventory control clerk.

On weekends, my best friend and I would go up to Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI to watch the latest bands. We saw Styx, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Super Tramp and Head East to name a few. We would sit on the hill with our blanket also scoping for boys while we watched the show.

I did a lot of dating that summer. I wasn't looking for anything serious and I was very boy crazy. This is when Rocketman entered my life. He also had a summer job at the same company as I did. When he first started, I had been there a few weeks already and was told by the girls of the office that he was off limits. I guess they had him picked for someone. That was no problem for me because I never wanted to date someone I worked with. What do you do when you break up, you still have to work together and I never liked awkwardness?

I worked in inventory control and Rocketman was in the engineering department so I would see him but I never worked with that department. I would notice him at lunch but we never spoke. That all changed the end of July, 1979 when one of Rocketman's co-workers, Mark, came over to me and asked if I wanted to play a joke on Rocketman.

Apparently, as he was coming to our department for something, Rocketman offhandedly told him to send Becky over to him. He was joking of course but Mark thought it would be hilarious to call his bluff. I was a flirty girl that summer so I was up for it especially since I thought he was cute.

So I went over to him and asked him why he wanted to see me. He was soooo embarrassed that he couldn't even look at me. His hand shielded his eyes as they looked at the floor. Oh, this was too good. I asked him again if he wanted something. He sheepishly replied that, "No,no, I don't." I finally let him off the hook by saying, "Well, if you're sure.." and I returned to my desk. It was too cute to see how embarrassed he was to talk to me.

The next day was Saturday and I had to work in the morning. I was sitting at my desk when Rocketman came in with his baseball uniform on (he played a ton of baseball that summer). He formally asked me out on a date and I accepted. He looked so cute in his uniform.

We went out and I knew he was the one. I broke up with my boyfriend at the time and the rest is history. We dated until he left for college in August. He was 3 1/2 hours away at the University of Illinois but we talked just about every day. You should have seen my phone bills. I decided to not return to college and continued working for the same company.

We got engaged in October, 1979 and married the following May. Mark was also in the wedding party. Of course, to this day he still says he was going to ask me out.

And here we are today, 30 years later! He's the best thing that ever happened to me!