 | As many of you know, I served active duty and retired from the United States Air Force. In 2015, I was going through a really rough time in my life. I had returned from a hard deployment to Afghanistan, and before the dust could settle off of my combat boots, I was going through a divorce. In 2016, my life took a turn...... I remember being at work one day - it seemed like an ordinary day until my supervisor rushed into my office - (I was in charge of Customer Support for Military ID cards) - to let me know that she was bringing in a distinguished visitor that needed an updated ID card. This distinguished visitor (a retired officer) was very familiar with our squadron because he commanded divisions in my unit a few years back. I simply replied to her that we would take care of whomever it was. About an hour later, my supervisor escorts this tall (handsome) gentleman into my office. She proceeded to tell me that this is Major Lett. He needs an updated identification card... Well, I had a standard to treat all of my customers with the utmost respect, no matter who it was. I explained to Major Lett that he didn't have the proper identification to get an updated ID at that time, so I made him an appointment. He sort of winced at the fact that he had to come back, but I assured him we would take good care of him. He finally smiled and left...and that was that. A few days later, the day came for Major Lett's appointment. I had already reviewed the appointments for the day, so I was looking for him to make sure he was taken care of before we closed early for training. Since I was in charge of training that day, my time was very limited. Unfortunately, it was about ten minutes past his 11:30 am appointment. I went out into the lobby area to see if Maj Lett had arrived. I saw him sitting out in the lobby using his phone. I brought him into the office while teasing him for being late. I made sure he had what he needed to complete the appointment and put him into the hands of my Airmen. As I was advising my airmen that I was leaving to go to lunch, Major Lett asked me where I was going. I told him that I was only going to the shoppette to grab some gobstoppers (candy) because I had to hurry back to conduct training at 1pm. He nodded, and I went back to my desk to wrap up some things before I left the office. Before I knew it, it was about 1230 pm. Major Lett was already gone, and my Airmen were helping the last few customers in the office before we closed. I quickly left the office and drove to the shoppette. Once I got there, I saw that Major Lett was also there grabbing a few things. I teased him again asking why he was following me. He quickly replied that he was at the shoppette first and that I was following him. We had a quick chuckle, and he left the shoppette. As for me, I grabbed a few bottles of water and some gobstoppers candy and quickly checked out. When I got back to my office, I noticed there was a shoppette bag left on my desk. I hesitantly peeked inside the bag and inside were two boxes of gobstoppers. I couldn't hide my smile...but I never saw Major Lett again...for a while at least. Months later in May, I was picking up a prescription at the on-base pharmacy, and I see Major Lett walk into the pharmacy. I waved and smiled, and he walked over. We must've chatted for what seemed like a few minutes, but in reality, we stood there talking and laughing for 40 minutes! We decided to exchange numbers and meet up for a weekday lunch. Unfortunately, our plans kept getting interrupted by work, weather or other appointments, but that didn't stop the emails, the texts and the telephone conversations that seems like minutes, but were for hours! Finally, we decided that we would meet up for a weekend brunch...which eventually was pushed later that day to dinner due to some travel plans. When we finally met up for dinner, June 5, 2016, that was the day I put a note in my phone - my first date with Boo. |
