Darlene & David
“Each time he left us for a cruise, he would write me a letter every day he was gone.”
David and I have been married almost 35 years! We met on March 9th, 1985, he proposed on the fantail of the USS Hector on July 4th, and on August 31, 1985 we were married!
We had a teeny wedding in the living room of his parents’ home in Winona, Texas. He was set to deploy on a 6th month cruise, and the thought of us not being married before he left was unthinkable, and so, we got married.
The plan was to have a beautiful wedding when he returned home, but that just never happened.
We had our first baby in '87, followed by 3 more babies, in '89, '94 and '96- our life was full and busy! David was on an 18-month rotation in the Navy, he would be home 18 months and gone for 6! Seems we had a baby every time he returned home again!
We learned to cherish our time together. Each time he left us for a cruise, he would write me a letter every day he was gone.
Sometimes the letters would come in all at once, and to read them in order he’d put the number on the outside of the envelope. Back then there were no emails and phone calls home were rare and expensive! God blessed us with so much and He has always been the center of our marriage. And now 35 years later, David is still my very best friend and the love of my life.
