Shannon here: Laurie Woods shares how she met her husband along with a chance to win an e-book copy of her Romantic Suspense novel, Northern Deception (Heroes of the Tundra Book 1). Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter the drawing. Deadline: April 13th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Laurie:
My husband and I celebrated thirty-one year of marriage in March. And we had a “meet cute”, as we say in the romance writer’s world, but I had no idea he’d engineered it after waiting nearly three months since he’d first laid eyes on me!
I was a municipal police officer in the mid-1980’s and in 1987 I’d been off for a few months with a back injury I’d received on the job. During my physio treatments, I’d met a wonderful woman who ministered to me in friendship and encouraged me to come to her church. However, I was far away from wanting anything to do with religion at the time. But God had other plans and my friend was part of them.
She called me one Sunday morning to tell me the local Christian Peace Officers Chapter was “taking the service” at her church (a Fellowship Baptist church) and would I come and sit with her to hear the sermon? I politely declined. My phone rang again. This time it was my Deputy Police Chief who also attended her church, and he wasn’t taking no for an answer. He suggested I wear my dress uniform! I meekly told him it was at the dry cleaners (not a lie) but I’d figure out something to wear. He said he’d meet me at the back of the church.
` Unknown to me, of course, my friend went to the College and Careers Sunday School class and told them a policewoman she’d been witnessing to was coming out for the first time. They had a prayer session over me before the service. My future husband was in that class.
I showed up in a nice skirt and suit jacket and sat with my friend and her family. I had no idea the entire College and Careers class was behind us. The church was huge, and I was feeling out of place with so many other police officers in uniform and me NOT in uniform. What a time for my dress blues to be at the cleaners!
The service took my breath away. A Police Inspector gave the sermon, and every word spoke to my heart. I felt like he knew everything I’d grappled with on the job; the things I’d seen, the physical pain I was in, the bullying I was taking for being a woman in a male-dominated field.
That morning, I felt the presence of God. I’d been raised in church but not in an evangelical denomination. I’d never felt the enveloping presence of God that I experienced at that service. And I gave my heart to the Lord. My friend and I cried happy tears.
I didn’t meet my husband that morning. He saw me when they asked all the police officers present to stand
up, and the congregation applauded us for our service. He said later, he knew there was something special about me and he knew he had to meet me “somehow”. But with twelve-hour shifts and working weekends my church attendance was sporadic.
I was baptized three months later and still hadn’t met him. Christmas went by–still hadn’t met him. Finally, on a freezing day in January, a young man came running up to me on my way out to the parking lot.
“A group of us are going out for lunch and we’d like you to come with us,” he said, all out of breath.
I agreed, wondering who they were and who he was, but I knew the restaurant and met them there.
Now, I have to say, in true “romance” fashion, once we sat at the table and got talking, everyone else at the table faded away. I was completely taken with this young fellow who I discovered was five years younger than I was! Most men when they found out I was a police officer, asked stupid questions such as, “How do you pull your gun out without breaking a nail?”
Paul asked questions like, “How many arrests do you average in a week?” He took me seriously as a police officer. He wanted to know what the job was really like. And he volunteered with inmates at our city jail by tutoring two guys in reading skills. Instant connection!
He asked for my phone number. This was back in the dinosaur age of landlines and answering machines. And while I was working twelve-hour shifts and sleeping for nights, I’d come home to cheerful messages, letting me know when the next group event was on or inviting me out to another group lunch.
In the end, I was the one who asked him out on an actual “date”. He was too shy to do it. I asked him out for lunch and after that, we were inseparable. All because my friend never gave up on her gentle witnessing to someone with a back injury, and a Deputy Police Chief saw a female police officer who needed Jesus.
Laurie Wood is a military wife who’s lived across Canada and visited six of its ten provinces. She and her husband have raised two wonderful children with Down Syndrome to adulthood, and their son and daughter are a wonderful blessing to their lives. Over the years, Laurie’s books have finaled in prestigious contests such as the Daphne du Maurier (twice), the TARA, the Jasmine, and the Genesis. Her family lives in central Canada with a menagerie of rescue dogs and cats. If the house were bigger, no doubt they’d have more. Learn more and connect:
Laurie’s Website Laurie’s Facebook Laurie’s Twitter
About the book – Northern Deception:
Reunions can be deadly.
After a savage attack in university, Kira Summers fled to the safety of northern Canada and her work as a polar bear scientist. But when her whistleblower brother dies in a mysterious car crash, she must return home to bury him and pack his belongings. Unaware she’s carrying explosive evidence someone’s willing to kill for, she has no choice but to rely on the one person she never thought she’d see again.
Lukas Tanner, a widowed single father of a special needs toddler, moved to Churchill five years ago. As the proud owner of Guiding Star Enterprises, a wilderness tour company, he and his daughter lead a simple life. But when Kira comes crashing back into his world, he realizes God has other plans. Now, Lukas and Kira must confront a merciless killer as their past and present collide in a deadly race—a race they must win if they have any hope of a future together.
Can’t wait for the drawing or worried you won’t win? Get your copy now! Northern Deception – Amazon
Question for Readers: How did you meet your spouse or boyfriend? If you’re currently single, how did your parents meet? Any cute meet stories among your family members or friends? I find these stories fascinating! And great fodder for writers.
Come back April 5th for H.L. Wegley!
met my now ex-husband on a blind date that a girlfriend set up. first date was at their house playing cards.
My parents meet roller skating.
We met roller skating, my aunt and uncle met roller skating also and they married they married 4 months before we were born, yes our birthdays are 10 days apart, I am 10 days older than my husband. This aunt and uncle were the only relatives of mine that never divorced and we have now been married 48 years next month.
wfnren at aol dot com
Love Laurie’s story! Thanks soon much for candidly sharing..
I met my husband to be at the local drag races I had attended with my brother 😎
Thank you! I’ve loved reading everyone’s “how they met” stories here. My husband LOVES car racing and has done some small time racing wherever possible on our travels. It scares me though and I won’t race with him. I’m not a fan of high speeds because I’ve seen what happens to the human body when a car hits an immobile object at high speed. Not something you ever forget! Thank you all, ladies, for dropping by!
Hi Laura, I enjoyed learning about your “meet cute”. My hubby is from England. We met on the first day of his arrival in Phila. So many years ago. We didn’t marry until many years later. It’s now 35 yrs. together and two grown sons.
I have a winner! @_eHope won the drawing. I appreciate Laurie for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.