Valentine's Day - 2010

In honor of today being February 14th, I thought I would share a little story...

In March of 1992, I was making my way from San Antonio, Texas to Enterprise, Alabama. I was on my way to my first duty station at Fort Rucker, with no real expectation in mind other than to finally get to settle somewhere after completing basic training in Fort Leonardwood, MO and advanced individual training in Fort Sam Houston, TX. I was tired and quite frankly needed a place to call my own.

I met my NCO's, SSG Torres, and SSG Rodriguez as soon as I was in processed. They were nice enough fellows and wanted to show me around the hospital (where I would work the next three years) and to introduce me to the other PAD members. I was fortunate enough to know two of the girls that would be working with me because we had gone to basic and AIT at the same time. I knew them well enough to know that Devona Kay would call cheerios, "searios", and Tonya McCall was engaged to a guy from Ft. somewhere else in Alabama. I also knew them well enough because the three of us would share a very tiny room for the next couple of months.

Anyway - Sergeants Torres and Rodriguez were introducing the three of us to our new colleagues. Tracey Kaye was a specialist and married to a German girl (Bianca), Jay Battle was from Montgomery, AL and called everyone "guy", and there was another woman that was from Little Rock, AR. I immediately thought I should leave her alone - she was a brute and made no bones about breaking in "fresh meat". As Torres and Rodriguez were laughing at their own jokes, a guy poked his head around the cubicle to ask them a question. The sergeants introduced him as PFC Estes. He was only visible from the neck up and only for 2.5 seconds. Devona looked at me and said, "OOOOOOHhhhh, Boots! There go a Keeuuuttteee white boy!" I raised an eyebrow and let her know I wasn't going to respond to her opinions.

A few days later, PFC Estes was knocking on my barracks door. He said he was going to train me on the evening shift, and in the background of my room, Devona and Tonya were assuring each other that yes, indeed, he would. I ignored their comments while PFC Estes told me that I needed to get some rest because our shift started at 11:00 and would be over at 7:00 the next morning.

Estes and I worked the late shift for about a month and got to be pretty good friends. During the days (when everyone else was working), we would have lunch at either Taco Bell, or order pizzas from every pizza place in town. I learned that he was from Kentucky, drove a black, S10 truck with VERY loud speakers in the back, and had a girlfriend back home. I respected that and was only interested in friendship anyway - I had a boyfriend.

Life went on and I was pulling CQ one night for our barracks and this little girl comes in and demands to see Estes. I ask her to sign in and let her know that she needs to be gone by midnight. She informs me that she is a generals daughter and has no need to follow any of "my" rules. I let her go and curled back up with a book and vaguely wondered what Estes was doing with her. The next morning, Estes comes in to talk and asks if the girl can borrow some clothes, they are going to Montgomery for the day. I wouldn't have let her have them, but I liked Estes well enough to trust him. I never saw the clothes again, because I guess they broke up.

Estes asked if I wanted to see a movie and I declined. I already had a date for the peanut festival. He said he would stay and work on his truck. Later that night, I was headed out to the parking lot with the date and saw Estes under the hood of his truck. He stood up straight and waved. He had grease marks on his bare chest and his hat was turned around backwards. I turned to my date and told him I couldn't go out with him. I turned and walked over to Estes' truck to see if I could be of any help. :)

We went to see "A League of Their Own" and on the way back to the barracks, Estes told me about his daughter, Lauren. I was smitten with both, but I liked him too much and wanted to stay friends. I knew enough to know that once you date someone, it is too hard to just go back to being friends after, so I made it a point to be close, but not that close.

We talked about other romantic interests, favorite foods, television, families, and anything a person can think of to talk about - we talked about it. Estes asked me if I wanted to go to Kentucky for the weekend. I laughed and said that I didn't think so. Too many hillbillies and all. He went anyway. I was bored all weekend.

He asked again after Christmas - we had some drama with some of the guys in our company who had drug related problems. I said maybe next time. I was bored again while he was gone.

I met his parents when they came to Alabama for a weekend, but only briefly. Jeff was showing them his room. I saw them all coming down the hall and he introduced me to them in passing. I went on my way - but I was secretly glad he was back. They had all gone to Florida, and Jeff looked pretty good with a tan. I was seriously glad he was back.

A friend and I decided that we would move out of the barracks and rent a place off post. Jeff helped us move and attended our first party. At one time, I thought of myself as a pretty good quarters player, but Jeff took that title from me. I was pretty pissed about the whole thing until he kissed me. I pretended to be mad about that too.

I was asked to babysit for one of our master sergeants while he was out of town. You don't say "no" to a master sergeant, so I made Jeff go with me and we watched the kids and each other.

Jeff asked again if I would go to Kentucky with him. I accepted. It was about an eight hour trip and we would leave after PT the following Friday. (which happened to be Valentine's day)

We got to Kentucky around midnight and we walked into his parent's house. His mom had been sleeping on the couch waiting for us, and when she stood up, she said, "Hello, Shannon. It is nice to meet you." I looked at Jeff and raised both eyebrows. He quickly corrected his mom and showed me to the guest room. There were balloons and flowers on the night stand. The balloons had "I LOVE YOU" on them, and the flowers were the most beautiful roses I have ever seen. I was confused because I thought they were for 'Shannon', but Jeff insisted they were for me. I was taken back, but pleasantly relieved. On the way back to Alabama, we talked about the rest of our lives.

We were married the following month, March 29, 1993, during his lunch break from Air Assault School. We went to the courthouse in Ozark, AL and were married by a lady with a nice gap between her teeth. She was sweet, but pronouncing Estes was difficult for her.

We went back to the place that we rented together and started our lives as a married couple. In June, we found out I was pregnant and we would have Comanche on January, 27th, 1994. Nine months after his birth, we found ourselves in Heidelberg, Germany for three years. After our active duty lives were over, we returned to the great state of Kentucky to spend the rest of our lives together. Almost 17 years later, I can still see Jeff standing up after working on the engine of his truck. I knew then, that I wouldn't be able to breathe if we weren't together. I am still not sure why it took me so long.