211117 Sentinel, Why Did Joyce Pick Me, Part Two

I know more than one, including me, wondered why Joyce picked me.

I enlisted in the navy with a delayed reporting date not long after I met Joyce. The date was September 4, 1963. Joyce was headed to college in September and I did not want to be alone after meeting and dating Joyce. I had a guaranteed billet for Aviation Electronics School and I wanted to learn all about radios and how to repair them because that was my goal in life to have my own radio shop after my hitch in the navy. I had no assurance that Joyce would even remember me after she went away to college.

The time for my departure was drawing near, when I had the shock of my young life at that point. Joyce’s mother and father came to our home and asked if I could go on their summer vacation to Illinois. It was her mother’s idea and I didn’t even think she cared for me being in Joyce’s life at all. I left my service station job and went with them to Illinois. The opportunity to spend two weeks in a row with Joyce was the highlight of my life to that point. It was the best two weeks of my life being with Joyce constantly and being alone with her on several occasions.

So today I still don’t know why such a gorgeous and talented young woman had anything to do with me. As her aunt said to her mother, “Joyce could do a lot better than him.” I of course thought I was charming back then, but I may have been the only one

who thought that. I had little to nothing to offer Joyce at that point. I had no way to earn a living to support us. I was far from being a handsome guy. I rarely ever smiled, always serious back then. My only outstanding feature was my long curly hair, hardly enough for a beautiful woman to wait around for, so why did she? She never really said why and I never asked. I’m not even sure why she stayed with me after we were married. My time in the navy uprooted us frequently and we were never in one place for long. I was not always the best husband early on, perhaps not even an acceptable husband. The important thing is Joyce stayed with me and gave me a chance to be the husband worth waiting around for.