(Mary Beth) First of all, the man’s name was “Kenney” not “Kinney.” Mr. Kenney had also been my 8th grade science teacher before moving to the high school to teach Chemistry.

Craig was in the class, and he was accurate in saying he was a junior and I was a sophomore. However, the only thing I noticed about Craig, initially, was how much he loved himself. Each day when he came in to Chemistry, his habit was to “work the crowd,” walking up and down the aisles of student desks enthusiastically seeking high fives.

One day, to my chagrin, Mr. Kenney assigned Craig and me as lab partners. Great. My goal would be to keep the chit chat to a minimum and finish the lab. Of course, during the lab, Craig asked me out.

“Uh, I have a boyfriend. [Eye roll.]”

Even though I continually thwarted his advances, Craig continued to pursue me in the coming months. He was always writing me notes. He, his golf game, and the movie Caddyshack were typically his topics of choice. I had to admit, I did like the movie Caddyshack.

One day, Craig approached me and said, “Hey! I found out my sister is friends with your brother!” Cheryl was, indeed, friends with my oldest brother, Eric, and also had been escorted to Courtwarming one year by my second-oldest brother, Brian.

“Okay,” I thought. “Maybe Craig’s not that bad.” I figured there might be a decent bloodline there if my brothers were friends with his sister.

I had broken up with my boyfriend a couple of months prior to this, so I decided to proceed with an open mind. I even started writing back to Craig. “Oh, yesssss. I LOVE golf!” LOL Well, you gotta admit he is pretty cute.

Heather Oberrieder and I had debate together. That was the class where you sat around in the library, chatting idly with all of your friends, while your teacher assumed you were conducting actual research. Well, Heather needled me until I admitted Craig was “Okay” and “Kind of cute,” and then she immediately went and reported this to Craig. [!]

For the record, I was not grounded the night of our first date. My parents were out of town, but they did know we were going out. I’d say my reaction to the first date could be summed up with, “[sarcasm] Ohhhhh, yea! You brought a friend,” and “[sarcasm] Yeah, I love Andrew Dice Clay,” and “[even more sarcasm] Sure, I’m sure the movie Casual Sex is an excellent film – great choice!”

Who brings a friend with them on a first DATE???? (This is NOT to say anything against Jay. Jay is a great guy, and I love him. If you’re reading this, it’s not your fault, Jay!)

At least Jay had the Jeep. Riding around with the top down was pretty cool. I believe I was made to sit in the back. Again, classy.

Why did I go out with this guy, again?? Oh, yeah. Pretty cute.

Anyway, sparks eventually flew.

We went out for a very happy year. I still have a box of handwritten notes somewhere to prove it.

In early May of 1989, walking down the halls of LSHS on the way to 7th hour, some flaky friend of Craig’s made the mistake of blabbering, “Yeah, Craig got pretty crazy at that party last weekend!!! Heh, heh, heh [Neanderthal!!!].” Unfortunately, this was after Craig had told me he had gone home early that night to get ready for church. I don’t care for lying, so he was jettisoned.

Time lapsed. Craig called me on every break from college. He even invited me to my senior prom. (Bless his heart – I said no.)  If you were to ask my brothers, I then went off to college myself and dated all four of the losers at Baylor University. Meanwhile, Craig continued to call me regularly.

In the spring of my junior year at Baylor, I was (admittedly) dating a DORK. Ugh. He was ridiculously needy, which I hated, and I was just waiting for the right moment to break up. That March, I had a dream that told me I was with the wrong guy and should be with CRAIG. “Huh? Dreams tell you stuff? Weird.” But, after that, I decided I’d be nice to Craig the next time he called. I wasn’t mean to him before that, I was just, you know, “standoffish.” I wasn’t the on-again-off-again type AT ALL. I was the see-what-you-lost-when-you-lost-me type.

I did indeed return to LS to write for The Journal the summer before my senior year. I knew that Craig’s mom got The Journal, would see my name in the paper, and would mention it to Craig. Sure enough, he called, and I was nice.

Our first “date” was to a house party at Craig’s. His mom was out of town, and he had all of his buddies over for a kegger. This was the night Adam and Jeff got into a big brawl, I believe. Does this guy know how to impress a girl on a first date, OR WHAT????????

I spent that night sitting out on the curb at the end of Craig’s driveway talking to Michelle O. and waiting for Craig to get out there and take me HOME. It was NOT a fun night, and I was kicking myself that I had already invited Craig to come with me to Starlight a few nights later — I had gotten free tickets from The Journal.

Out of nowhere, sparks completely flew the night of Starlight.

Very soon, Craig and I were dating exclusively. And, in all seriousness, dating him felt just right.

We got engaged about two months later.

I went back to Baylor to finish my senior year, got sad, came back home, and graduated from William Jewell, instead.

We got married, had a Lucy-and-Ricky first year of marriage which culminated with Craig giving “me” a Sega for Christmas. There were ups, downs, highs, lows, struggles, and good times.

And, we lived happily ever after.

Thank you, Heather Oberrieder.

I love you, Craig Hope.

Tags: How I met my husband