Remember how I told you that staying busy was the best way to keep from missing your traveling significant other? It seems I’ve overdone it. As my Aunt Dana would say, I’ve been busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger! Or should I not say that in 2019? I think it’s safe. Hanging wallpaper is difficult enough with both arms, surely no one would try it with less than two. Anyway, the boys’ school and activity schedules, our taekwondo schedules and teaching English to Chinese students, has kept me very busy and the blog hasn’t been as much of a priority. I really need to change that because, as I’ve mentioned, it’s very therapeutic for me! And I really enjoyed writing about this topic: How Dennis & I first met.
How We Met
A few things came up that made me decide this post will be dedicated to the story of how my husband, Dennis, and I first met. You already know how we ended up in Colorado, and then living apart.
My friend Lisa and I met for coffee, and we talked for three hours. As we were leaving, we realized that we didn’t hear how each of us met our spouse. We both agreed that we loved to hear stories about how couples meet! (Sorry if you’re reading this, Lisa, but we can focus on how you and your hubby met on our next coffee date, promise!)
Then, my and Dennis’s wedding anniversary came and went faster than you can say one-armed wallpaper hanger. Nineteen years: Not really a milestone year, and it fell on a Wednesday-the most boring day of the week. Dennis was at work in DC. I was in Colorado driving the kids everywhere they needed to be. But it was our anniversary, nonetheless. That alone was enough to have the story of how we met fresh in my mind.
Plus, my brief bursts of computer time have been too short to focus very well on a new blog topic. Since I wasn’t able to come up with anything thoughtful or inspiring to write about, I knew this would be an easy one!
The Year Was 1994...
It was my sophomore year at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. My group of friends and I had been hanging out the same table in the school cafeteria between classes for several months.
We were all around the same age but with various backgrounds and goals: I was a psych major, others studied biology, zoology, or business. We met through mutual classes or friends, and looked forward to our gatherings in the cafeteria at, what we considered to be, “our table.” Bonding over college, our social lives and the dating scene, we became close enough that we’d get together on the weekends, and even took some road trips together. A couple of the guys played rugby, so a regular group outing would be watching them play. Most of them were from the St. Louis area or elsewhere in Missouri. I had recently relocated from my small hometown in Southern Missouri after spending my Freshman year at a college closer to home.
He Stole my table, and my heart
All of my classes were during the day. One night (March 29, 1994, to be exact), I was on campus late in the evening to take some test. Wearing my glasses instead of my contacts, no makeup, hair in a messy ponytail, and an Arkansas Razorbacks sweatshirt and sweatpants, I went to the cafeteria first so I could grab a bite to eat. Knowing that I wouldn’t see anyone from my usual cafeteria group, auto-pilot still took me to our usual table. But as I turned the corner to sit down, some outsider was sitting there! Instead, I sat a few tables away and started to eat.
There weren’t a lot of people in the cafeteria, but I heard someone say something. I looked up, and it was the guy who took my table. He was asking me, “Did I take your table?” He explained that he always sees me and my friends at the table, to which I replied that yes, we do normally sit there, but that it was fine. He could certainly have it for tonight. I realized that I had seen him in the cafeteria before, with his own group of friends. Sometimes I’d see my rugby friends talking to them.
We began to talk across tables until I’d finished eating. That’s when he invited me to sit with him. I did, and we talked so easily and in-depth for two people who had literally just met, and at some point I realized I was smitten with this guy!
The time came for me to leave to take my test, and as I was walking across campus, I realized we didn’t exchange numbers! The most we’d gotten was each others’ first names and majors, and I knew that he still lived at home nearby. Basically, I knew this guy’s name was Dennis, and that his major was bio-chemistry.
I'll probably never see him again
The next morning, I was back at my usual table with my usual group of friends. Still thinking about the guy I met in this very spot, I told the table how I’d met someone the night before. One of the rugby guys said, “Yeah, it was Dennis, right?” I was dumbfounded. How could he know that? Had he been in the cafeteria the night before as well? Surely he would have said hi!
I asked him how he could possibly know that, and he explained that Dennis had already stopped by our table this morning to ask about me!
It wasn’t until later that week that I ran into Dennis again. We passed each other on the sidewalk walking across campus. I was on my way to class near the chemistry building, where he had just finished class. We stopped to chat, and finally exchanged numbers! We still didn’t know each other’s last names or anything, but there was plenty of time for that.
After my class, I walked nextdoor to the building where all of the chemistry classes were held. My good friend, Anne, was in graduate school for Chemistry, and had an office in the building. I told her about the guy I’d just met, and that he was a bio-chem major named Dennis, but that I didn’t get his last name. Her eyes widened, and she said, “Of course! Dennis Lacey!”
Never mind. Not the right guy.
First of all, I still didn’t know Dennis’s last name. Secondly, my name was Tracy. TRACY. How could I date, and possibly marry, like I’d already suspected I would (as I said, I was smitten!), a guy whose last name was LACEY? TRACY LACEY??
With the confidence of a person who knew more about this guy than I actually did, I told her, “Nope. This isn’t the same guy.” She reminded me that I just said that I hadn’t gotten his last name. And that, of course it made sense that we clicked after one meeting. We were perfect for each other! She was only bummed that she hadn’t introduced us before!
Since I’d already decided I was going to eventually marry this guy, I was 100% certain that there’s no way in hell his last name rhymed with my first name. But allow me to back up about 15 years….
When I was growing up in my small, Southern Missouri town of about 2400 people, I kept a small group of close friends from elementary school through high school graduation. There’s something about small-town dads of young girls that make them give nicknames to their daughters’ friends. Maybe it’s a way to help them tell us all apart, but we each had one. Jaynna’s dad, for example, called me Long Tall Sally, since I towered over the rest of them from Kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Kristy's dad, the fortune-Teller
But it was my friend, Kristy’s dad, Sonny, who unknowingly made my meeting Dennis the craziest story imaginable. From elementary school until we parted ways after graduation, he lovingly referred to me as…. You guessed it! Tracy Lacey.
So then, what are the chances that this guy whole stole my heart that night in the cafeteria, who I was pretty certain that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, had a last name of LACEY??
When I left Anne’s office that night, I still refused to entertain the idea that we were referring to the same Dennis. But she nailed it. It was the same Dennis, and she knew it even if I refused to believe it.
Neither Dennis nor I are certain of when we actually confirmed it. What we do know is HIS side of the story from Tuesday March 29, 1994.
He went home after our meeting in the cafeteria, woke up his mom who was asleep in bed, and told her that he’d just met the most beautiful girl on campus, and that we’d really hit it off.
And just like that, We've lived happily ever after
Seven years of dating, then marriage, then two kids later, here we are! We knew it, Anne knew it, Dennis’s mom knew it, and most especially, Sonny somehow knew it! It was serendipity.
You probably want to know when Sonny found out about his success as a fortune-teller. In 1995, my younger sister graduated high school. Coincidentally, my sister’s name is also Kristy. I guess that’s another reason to give everyone nicknames? Anyway, Dennis and I had been dating for a year, so I took him to my sister’s graduation. Sonny was there! So naturally, I introduced my friend’s dad to Dennis. It went something like this:
Me: Sonny, I’d like you to meet my friend, Dennis.
Sonny: It’s so nice to meet you, Dennis!
A bit of catching up since we’d seen each other last. Then…
Sonny: So Dennis, what’s your last name?
Dennis: It’s Lacey…
Sonny: Oh, okay!
Some awkward silence, and then the wheels started turning in Sonny’s head…
Sonny: Tracy, what was it that I called you growing up?
Me: You called me Tracy Lacey.
Sonny: That’s what I thought!
Then, lots of laughter ensued, and “Isn’t that a coincidence?” remarks.
Meet Kristy's parents: Sonny the Sweet fortune-Teller, and his Awesome wife Phyllis!
Since our wedding was just the two of us on a beach in Hawaii, there was no real ceremony or big reception where this unbelievable story could be told and appreciated by our guests. But ever since then, all of our friends and family have heard this story multiple times. Our kids certainly hear it ALL. THE. TIME. From service people I encounter, I constantly hear, “Is that your married name, or did your parents name you that?” I’ll occasionally let them in on Sonny’s prophecy as well. And I LOVE to tell it! It never gets old for me. I never get annoyed with people who ask me about it, tell me how cute it is, or tell me, “You could have kept your maiden name, you know.”
Never in a million years.
I loved this story!!❤️ So sweet!!
Thanks, Mary! It makes me happy to know you read it!
Love!Love!I still remember when you met Dennis you called and said you met a guy named Dennis Lacey and you were going to marry him and your name would be Tracy Lacey I dont remember if that was before or after you both decided to marry.Love the story and photos.I Hope the Talleys see this.
Do you remember feeding the UMSL table crew when we stopped there on our way to Florida? 😉
I do wish we had done it differently Maybe at Lamberts or somewhere in between steele and st Louis.
I never knew this story!! I love it— soooo sweet 💕!!!
Linda I didn’t either!! Love it! ❤️❤️❤️
New-Nuclear-Lady’s Origin Story, reprinted from Issue #1 !!
Cool! 🙂