Carol Satchell - On Vulnerability

Carol Satchell

On March 17, we will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. Getting married was a giant leap of faith with a heaping tablespoon of insanity.

Jean and I met through his cousin. His cousin and I have known each other for a long time and while catching up he asked if I was single and before I could say more than “yes” he had decided that he was going to introduce me to Jean.  

It was a ridiculous proposition. Jean lived in Texas and mostly spoke Spanish. I lived in New Jersey and my Spanish was rusty from lack of use, but before I could protest we were all on a 3-way call. Jean had no warning and I wasn’t sure what the right thing to say or do was.

Despite my protests, Jean called and we started talking. I was working long hours and had a long and sometimes lonely commute. I love the views along Route 287 and seeing the Hudson River as I crossed the Tappen Zee Bridge twice a day, but 3 hours is a long time to spend driving every day. The drive went a little faster when we were talking and it was nice to have company and talk about something other than work.  

Later, as I was getting on the plane I was hoping  this was the start of a love story but I worried that it might be the preamble to a Dateline special. The weekend was an adventure. Our first date included having a very late dinner with his mother for her birthday. We had to figure out how to work together and find a hotel when many were fully booked as the area recovered from Hurricane Harvey, but at the end of the weekend we had started to build a relationship that we continue to work on today.  

Deciding to fly to Dallas to meet someone I barely knew was a giant leap, but one that I am very glad that I took and I still think it was a crazy thing to do.