Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
When visiting Janet’s hometown, Rochester, NY, I was often asked,
“How did you meet your wife?”
Which translates in New York Italian circles to,
“What is a corn fed, mid-western nerd from Wisconsin doing with a beautiful Italian from upstate New York?”
I have often asked myself the same question, especially because she cannot stand my offbeat sense of humor.
Short version
She was living in Rochester. I was living in Kansas City. I picked her up in a bar in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we moved Las Vegas in six months, then we married a year after that.
Longer version
I was close to finishing my production line installation in Marion, South Carolina and I was getting ready to move there permanently. I was taking a different job running the maintenance department.
Friday nights were still usually spent visiting Myrtle Beach. Back then we still wore suits when going out. That night I remember dressing sharp in a light colored suit and driving down to Myrtle Beach for a lonely prime rib dinner and then a night out after an especially busy week.
There was a disco club on a bridge at the top of the Myrtle Beach Hilton connecting two towers. They played great music and it was packed constantly. I was at a stand up counter overlooking the dance floor feeling full from dinner and tired from the busy week. I was seriously considering calling it a night early.
Just as I was ready to leave, this group of one guy and three ladies came in and stood next to me. A few minutes later, I was talking with one of the ladies. She introduced me to Janet standing next to her. We hit it off and talked the rest of the evening. When the bar closed at midnight, I took her out for breakfast. I then dropped her off at her hotel, after asking her out on a mid-week date before she was due to leave the following weekend. We continued to hit it off on that date.
Since I was still technically living in Kansas City, I was entitled to travel back home every other weekend. I had no one in Kansas City to go back to, so I would trade my plane ticket to Kansas City for one to Rochester, New York to spend a few weekends with her. In between these occasional trips, I was called back to finish a job in Montrose, Colorado over Memorial Day. I bought Janet a ticket to Colorado. We had a wonderful time wining, dining and going to country rock bars that weekend.
Back in Marion, I had rented a two bedroom house in another small community near Marion. I took a two week vacation to sell my Kansas City Condo and to pack up my belongings for my permanent move to South Carolina. I drove to Green Bay, then to Rochester by way of Canada to pick Janet up to accompany me back to Marion and spend her vacation week with me. We took many little side trips to Myrtle Beach and Charleston, South Carolina during that week.
A couple months later, I was called by another headhunter. Even though I was not looking for a change, he talked me into an interview with a start up company called Ethel M Chocolates in Las Vegas. They purchased me a first class ticket to fly out there for an interview. I went thinking I probably was going to turn them down, but I was intrigued by the free first class trip to Las Vegas. It was over a weekend. The interview went well. They were so professional and the opportunity was so intriguing that I accepted the job on the spot when offered.
On the flight back to Marion, I called Janet from the airport and told her the news. I explained that visiting her regularly was not going to be happening anymore. It was too early in our relationship for this, but trips to Rochester were over. I offered her a round trip ticket with an open return for her to try staying with me in Las Vegas to see if we might get along on a more permanent basis.
After a few weeks, she called to say she was interested.