Our Story Begins...With a Blind Date!

Good friends of ours, Susie Hamrock, Gretchen Herman and Karen Jackson, introduced us in December of 2019. We are so grateful for them!

Glenn arranged our first date on January 4, 2020.

We met and enjoyed a lovely dinner. There is so much I remember from our first meeting, but I won't bore you with those details :). Not wanting to hold a booth on a busy night at the restaurant, Glenn suggested, after we finished our dinner, to go out for ice cream, that would be the first hint for me that ice cream is Glenn's favorite dessert! We headed over to the ice cream shop only to find out that it was closed...very disappointing, but we walked across the street to Starbucks, and I enjoyed an after-dinner coffee and Glenn had a Strawberry Frappuccino. I later came to find out that is the only item Glenn gets at Starbucks! He is not a coffee drinker.

We stayed at Starbucks well after we finished our drinks, and then the employees began to mop the floors and put the chairs upside down on the tables. Needless to say, we were both enjoying ourselves and having wonderful conversations! But we did opt to end our evening so the staff could go home.

I was very happy to hear from Glenn the next day and he was suggesting two dates...one being a breakfast buffet at Founding Farmers. And one being a Washington Capitals game, as he picked up on my passion for the Capitals during our dinner date. He shared that he had never been to a Caps game! I was very excited and immediately agreed to both dates.

I was happy to know that we'd be seeing each other again...even though I had to wait several weeks, as Glenn was heading out of town to go skiing and then immediately thereafter a "blues" cruise, where he'd be cruising around the Caribbean while listening to his favorite blues bands.

During the month that followed our first date, we had a couple of pretty significant events happen. One happened to all of us, we were now living during a global pandemic. The other happened to me, as I was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.

Either of these events could have de-railed a relationship in its infancy. But for us, our relationship strengthened. While the first year of dating likely looked very different than it would have if these two events didn't take place, we made lemonade out of lemons as they say, and Glenn and I became a significant part of each other's COVID "bubble". We spent most of our time together walking at Burke Lake or at each other's homes. Like the rest of the world, we just kept to ourselves, and we took the opportunity to really get to know each other. Looking back at that time, it was so lovely for us.

From there, we have continued to grow as a couple and have taken the time to really understand and learn about each other. I find us to be a lot alike, but of course, there are beautiful differences, too. We feel very fortunate to have found each other during this stage of our lives. It's our life experiences that have made us who we are today.

On a beautiful late afternoon in mid-August 2023, at Banks Lake in the state of Washington, Glenn completely surprised me as we were sitting lakeside by asking me to marry him. Since then, we have been having a wonderful time being an engaged couple!

We will be getting married, Saturday (January 4th) morning in a very small ceremony, with our children, their spouses and or significant others and grandchildren attending.

Thanks to all of you for being a part of our journey and for being among our group of extended family and friends who we have selected to join us in our marriage celebration.

With Love,

Beckie & Glenn