It’s my wife’s birthday so I’m choosing the song today!
Vanessa Williams – Save The Best For Last
I met my wife in November, 1991 in the UNIdome. Bonked her on the head with her own euphonium. What can I say? I’m an old fashioned, caveman kinda guy.
We dated until the summer of 1992 and split because it was a long distance relationship and back then, phone calls were REALLY long distance and expensive.
We stayed in contact as friends for a while then life happened and we lost touch.
Fast forward to winter 2003, I was between homes (homeless living with the kids’ babysitter) and I found a cassette tape that said, “Letter to Shawn”. I wasn’t quite sure what that was but had an idea, not realizing I even still had it. I listened to it one night and it was her, writing an audio “letter”. We did that, and adding songs that said how we felt about each other over the long distance. I smiled as I listened and then wondered what she was doing and where she was after all these years.
I remembered that she was from Waukon, and her dad was a minister there, so I took a shot and called information, asking for their phone number. I got it, called and left a message:
Hi, it’s Shawn, I was a friend of Karna’s years ago and was thinking of her and wondered what she was up to now… I haven’t talked to her for about 10 years so she may not remember me. If you could, please let her know I called and wanted to hear from her and catch up. My number is ————-. Thank you!
She called me around 10p that night and was quite surprised, to say the least. We talked for a long time, catching up and then most every night after until I decided to fly back with her to Arizona when she came to visit. I needed to restart my life and that was as good of a place as any.
September 4th, 2004 we said, “I do.” and we did.
Our first dance as bride and groom was to “Save The Best For Last” – one of the songs on that tape she made me, almost 12 years before… We did save the best for last.
