Category: Valentines Day

just George…

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a few weeks ago, my sweet grandpa passed away… he was 85 years old.

I traveled to oklahoma to celebrate his life with my family.
a friend of mine who is a flight attendant gave me a pass to fly on Southwest – for free. score. {seriously, such a blessing!}
i knew my grandpa’s health was declining and that his time was coming for a few months. so we drove to oklahoma over thanksgiving and christmas to spend time with my family and grandparents. we were crazy enough to travel those 4,000 miles mostly because we knew it was important to see my grandpa. the night before he died, i sensed it was going to be soon. i am grateful that the Lord prepared my heart for his death and made a way for my journey to honor my grandpa’s life and say good-bye. and though i miss him greatly, i have peace knowing he is with Jesus now… {for we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens~2 Corinthians 5:1}
…
my grandpa was very well known in the community where i grew up ~ edmond, oklahoma. with a doctorate in education from oklahoma state university (osu)… cowboy fans, anyone?… he served as a teacher, coach, principal and superintendent of schools all over oklahoma for a total of 39 years, the last 15 years of his career as superintendent for edmond public schools. he received many honors and accolades during his career, including induction into the osu college of education hall of fame. as i was growing up, every time we were out with my grandparents, they would inevitably run into someone they knew.
but rather than being called Dr. Rowley, he always prefered just George…

and to me, he was always just Grandpa…

rather than talking about himself or boasting about his distinguished career, my grandpa was a kind hearted, humble man who loved serving his family and others.
most of all, he loved his ‘doll’, my grandma ~ alice fern doll. he always put her first, even until the end. pushing the button for the elevator and waiting patiently behind his walker for her to enter the elevator first.
they met at age five, were high school sweet hearts and were married for 66 years. they were best friends, deeply in love, complete with their license plate: ‘HAD2BU’.

my grandparents in their silly ‘shot gun wedding’ picture 🙂

my grandpa was a generous man. he gave love effortlessly, with hugs, kisses, words of affirmation and genuine care about my life. how is school going? how are you doing with your homework? when is your next vocal music concert? how are your friendships?

he was my first valentine. i dated very little in high school and i never had a boyfriend on valentines day. but every february 14th, i got a chocolate heart from my grandpa ~ even my first valentines day with adam in 1996 ~ i still got a heart from grandpa.

he was a hard worker even beyond his career. when we were kids, my grandparents owned an 84 acre farm with cattle and a few horses. my brother and i loved going to the farm, being outdoors, riding the horses, fishing, searching for snakes and other critters 😉 so many memories built on the farm soil…wrapped up in the hay…which we will always cherish with our grandparents and entire rowley family.

he loved to explore the world…and take his grand kids with him. full of vision and an adventurous spirit, my grandparents loved to travel. they were always wise with their money and were able to travel extensively throughout the united states and abroad. sometimes, they took my brother and i with them. one of our favorite trips was to san fransisco when we were eleven and thirteen years old. yes. our grandparents were brave enough to take two teenagers on a trip from oklahoma to san fran. wow! and we had an amazing time. our grandparents rock. 
after retirement, our grandparents rented a condo for several summers in gunnison, colorado to escape the oklahoma heat. here we are together outside of the condo.
he was an educator in every area of life. he was an example of giving, saving and using money wisely. grandpa always paid for dinner…and he gave me a tip card to carry in my own wallet, so i would always know the right amount to give a server. my grandparents would pay me to do chores around their house, like mowing the lawn, removing stains on their carpet with a q-tip and vinegar cleaning solution… and vacuuming their shoe boxes. i was paid the ‘grandkid’ rate of $20 an hour to do these simple chores. they loved having me over to visit and the money was just an added bonus. on my sixteenth birthday, my grandparents let me drive their truck -my first time truly driving- to our family dinner. i was so nervous, but they trusted me, and i succeeded. my grandma was also an educator and completed her masters degree while raising four kids. she taught as an elementary music teacher and taught me piano. one of my grandpa’s favorite songs was ‘the rose’. growing up, i would sit by grandpa on grandma’s piano bench and sing it for the family. and i was honored to recently sing it for his funeral. aaaand… at every family gathering, my dad and his two brothers would play guitar, serenading the rest of us in song and laughter…. the gift of music truly runs in our family. 
starting young, singing on grandma’s piano bench
singing ‘the rose’
my parents and grandparents at one of my high school vocal music concerts. they never missed a performance 🙂

he had a heart full of love. more than anything, my grandpa loved his family. i am blessed with having such amazing grandparents and cherish the memories of us sitting around their dining room table, laughing and sharing life together. the joy our family had grew even more when i met adam, and the rowley and babcock families intertwined.

i go from being a rowley to a babcock ~ here we are with my family and Adam’s not long after our engagement. my grandpa’s big toothy smile ~ it’s a ‘rowley’ trait which i inherited as “horse teeth” 🙂 
…
over the holidays, when we saw my grandpa i took time to hold his hand and just sit with him. we didn’t say much… few words were exchanged except, “i love you, i miss you”… and we continued holding hands as the hustle and bustle of 50 family members gather for a thanksgiving feast surrounded us. during our christmas visit, my brother and i took a walk down the hallways of their building with them, and then took a picture together…i treasure this last picture we have.

my grandpa was a wonderful man. i am so grateful for these 35 years i have had the privilege of being one of his beloved granddaughters. his amazing life has shaped my life and for this i am so blessed. you can read more about his life and all his accolades here.
…
take time with the ones you love.
slow down.
be still.
sit with someone.
hold hands.
whisper i love you.
we are not promised tomorrow…
love. well. now. 

my grandma ~ keep her in prayer ~ she really misses her best friend.
my grandma said it would have been better if grandpa had been a horses butt. joking, of course.. but the pain of missing him wouldn’t be so great, if he had not been so lovable. but he was…
he was joy filled.
he was kind hearted.
he was generous.
he was wise.
he was easy to love.
to so many he was known as just George… but to me…. just Grandpa. 
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Baby Love~Our Love Story

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this year we will celebrate 15 years of marital bliss. Wow-zers, 15 years! you must be thinking ~ how old are you??? you guys still look like babies! Well, thank you very much. We still feel like babies, and time flies when you’re married, lemme tell ya.

we were basically babies when we got married.  He 22/Me 20 young years of age… and yes, if you can do the math, or have a calculator handy, we will be turning 37/35 this April/May.  just a heads up for our happy birthday!

I was 18 years old, when I saw Adam for the first time. Working as a CSR (customer service rep. aka – cashier) at Mardel ~ a Christian bookstore in Oklahoma. He strolled into the bookstore in suit ~ totally overdressed and heavily cologned for his interview.  I thought he was mysterious and stared at people a lot.  He was also wearing a leather jacket over his suit, and had a “I’m too cool” walk and look about him, which I thought was funny.  So, the first reaction I had to him was laughter.

I (Adam) was 20 years old, when I saw Leslie for the first time.  I came in to interview at Mardel and saw her at the register.  I thought she was a little snobby, but sweet.  I could tell she was curious about me…  She looked cute in her gray tennis dress, had a beautiful smile, and a laugh that could be heard around Mardel… and the world.  I loved her.

(Leslie again).  Yes, Adam still swears he loved me from the first moment he saw me.  I do know it happened soon after, but love at first sight?  c’mon.  I think he’s just a romantic 😉

Our manager at Mardel, “Tall Paul” (the nickname my friend/co-worker Stephanie and I affectionately gave him, b/c his name was Paul… and he was tall) was so impressed with Adam… and his suit… and his cologne… he hired him on the spot.  little did i know, that hire would change my life… forever.

Within the next week, Adam was managing the music department at Mardel, overseeing the sales of cassette tapes and cd’s (which were the hot new thing), and my friend Stephanie-the other employee of the music department. The 3 of us became a hilarious trio, entertaining the customers, our co-workers and each other, while becoming really good friends along the way.  Adam and Stephanie always made up reasons to come and visit me at the register in between the lines of customers I faithfully served and sold Christian “stuff” to.  And I always found reasons to visit the music department, chat with my friend Steph, and check out Adam, the hot and funny “new guy”.  all this time, my heart was on hold because I was falling for this guy who already had a girlfriend.  ouch.

I had no desire to get in the middle of a relationship, but… it happened.  from the moment we met, we spent a lot of time together as friends (remember the post last week “Marriage as Mates”).  our friendship was our foundation, no doubt.  we laughed together, talked for hours, and just loved hanging out together.  we spent a lot of time with our families too in those first few months of friendship… in fact, they saw our future of falling in love, before we admitted it was happening.  but eventually, it happened…

we started dating a few months later, in April of 1996.  Adam came to one of my choir concerts at the University of Oklahoma.  My family, Steph, and other friends were there too.  Later that night, Steph and I went back to my dorm room and their was a red rose on my door.  I looked at her with the question in my eyes, she shook her head “yes”, and I knew.  I started crying, freaking out with giddy girly excitement, and listened to all of the details from Steph about how Adam has really been in love with me all along, since he had already told her.  then, I called him… thanked him for the rose and we talked for 4 hours.  



Our dating story began ~ we dated for 8 months and were engaged on New Years Eve, 1996.  We spent that whole day together.  It began with breakfast, a scavenger hunt of the memories we shared on campus and at Mardel, and then lunch.  Then he took me to “Opening Night” a big NYE celebration in downtown Oklahoma City.  We went to dinner and then to see the musical “Sound of Music”.  About half way thru, I saw our parents and siblings in the auditorium (and after wondering for a moment why they were stalking us, I got the feeling something was going to happen). Then Adam whisked me away to another part of the celebration.  We went to listen to a concert by Edgar Cruz, an uber talented guitar player. In the middle of the concert, Edgar stopped playing, handed Adam the mic and he proposed to me… in front of 300 people.  After getting over my initial shock and the whirlwind of the evening, I said Yes.   


The evening didn’t end there.  We were then whisked away by golf cart to be interviewed by Fox news.  They did a short story on our engagement, and the way Adam worked it into the Edgar Cruz concert. We were now famous. 

Eight months later, on August 9th, 1997 we were married.

And that is when the work began.  It’s a lot of “work” to plan an engagement like Adam’s proposal, and a lot of “work” to plan a wedding with all of the intricate details. But the real work was just beginning. We have a love story that sometimes feels too good to be true.  But it is true.

It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.  
It’s not always pretty, sometimes it’s ugly.  
It’s not filled with rose petals and champagne, but it is filled with lots of coffee and lots of laughter.  
It’s the biggest investment we’ve ever made, and it’s worth it.