How I Met My Husband

It was Sunday night of the fair, 7 years ago.  I had just graduated high school a little over a month ago.  I was enjoying my last summer in 4-H, helping my dad on the farm, and getting ready to head out to college in the fall.  My  sister was dating a guy named Cody, who was much older than her and had a wide variety of friends.  It was demo night...my favorite, although I don't know why...it's not like I really had anyone to watch.  Cody and Nikki were at the fair (he was helping load up 4-H animals, I think), and a bunch of his friends were hanging around the barns with them.  Cody's friend, Kevin (AKA Matt's cousin, Kevin) was out there, and I knew him because he'd been with Cody before. 

The two people I didn't know, however, were the guys with Kevin and Cody...a handsome guy wearing a cowboy hat and striped overalls without a shirt, and a really big guy that looked like Uncle Kracker.

They were both in the demo and getting ready to bring their cars down to the pits.  It looked like it was going to rain, and it did, and somehow (I really can't remember how), Nikki and I ended up waiting with Matt in his old red Dodge pickup to get into the pits.  We waited out the rain, cheered them on in the demo, then found them after. 

They were hungry and were headed to a fair food stand to eat.  We caught up with them to hang out and visit some more.  I sat by Matt while he ate, and he told me a little about himself, mostly how to pronounce his last name.

"It's Przekwas," he said.

"What?" (What kind of a last name is that?)

"Przekwas," he said.

"Purr...(like a cat)."

"Zek.......Was."

PurrZekWas..(Okay, not so hard once you sound it out really slow.)

Anyway, my parents saw who we were hanging out with...they weren't overly impressed with these grungy, poorly dressed boys in cowboy hats their daughters had found after the demo.  They didn't say much, though, just left us to hang out and be kids. 

After they ate, Matt and I went for a walk up the midway.  Nathan tagged along.  I was lovestruck by this point (I think, or at least Matt tells me I was), and I gave Nathan some money so he'd leave us alone and let us walk and talk by ourselves. (Nathan's always quick to bring this up to me...it's definitely a little embarrassing, but oh well...)

Matt was limping a little bit when I met him.  About 8 months before, he had shot his leg/ankle totally off (it was just hanging on by a flap of skin) during hunting season.  He was in the hospital for about a month and had been in a wheelchair and on crutches for months.  He told me that story and showed me his leg...then, we went up to the grandstands to watch the fireworks...he wiped the bench off so I could sit by him (it was wet from the rain...how romantic, huh? just kidding.) and we watched the fireworks.  After that, he headed home...he had to bring his car back and it was dark.

I was so nervous after my time at the fair with Matt...I thought there was no way he would even care about talking to me again or wanting to see me. 

I was wrong...I'm glad. 

We talked on the phone a lot, I went to Roseau to paint his demo car for that fair, we went to parties, hung out a bunch, and about a month and a half later, we started dating. 

The rest is history.

Well, not really, but that's for another time!