Les & Sally: childhood sweethearts

This time of the year, as I’m sure you can guess, my days are mostly spent meeting with clients. Yesterday was no different: appointments from 10am to 6pm. One of those appointments was with a couple who have been clients of mine since 1988, Les & Sally.

For whatever reason, the conversation turned to how long they had been married. Forty years! That’s a long time in anyone’s book. What was more amazing is that they only dated about a week before they got married. But there’s a lot more to this story.

Les and Sally are from the same town in Texas. Les was five when Sally was born and he recalls how big her mother got when she was pregnant with Sally. In fact, Les’ mother had introduced Sally’s parents to each other. After Sally was born, Les’ mother babysat Sally.

Les and his family moved to New Jersey when Les was 10. After that, Les only saw Sally once – when she was 12. In 1965, Les made a trip to Texas for a weekend, accompanying a officer whose brother had cancer. The officer, who was shipping out on the following Monday, wanted to see this brother since he thought it would be the last time. He had a bit of difficulty putting together a flight crew and a friend of Les’ contacted him about signing on and making the trip. Although Les was also shipping out on Monday, he decided to go. Since he was close to where Sally and her family were living, Les tried to contact them but no one was home. Les’ aunt, with whom he had spent the weekend, contacted the family and gave Sally Les’ address.

Over the next year, Sally and Les corresponded. He got a week of leave in December 1966. Of course, he headed to Texas – to Sally. Even though they had grown up apart from each other, they had “met” again thru the letters. After a few dates that week, they went ahead and got married.

Sally’s mother never thought Sally would marry because she was so shy. So she didn’t teach her how to cook or clean. Les showed her how to do these things.

40+ years later, they are still together. Sally still has Les’ letters. And I saw a side of both of them yesterday I have never seen before in all of the years that I have known them. They are true childhood sweethearts, two people who were meant to be together.

Thanks to Les and Sally for sharing this story with me. And thanks to them for allowing me to share it with you.

And yes, that photo is of Les and Sally.

(Oh and Les – just think of what your life would have been like if something had happened to Sally when you pushed her baby carriage out into the street because she was crying? 😉 )