I was born in Dayton Ohio and educated there, graduated from Ohio State University for my formal education. My grandparents emigrated from Canada. That is why the family settled in Ohio. My present job is the manager of the human resources division for the Acer Aircraft Manufacturing Inc.

Every two years I am required to take a continuation education course in order to keep my license current. This year I was due and I went to Albuquerque. I flew in to Albuquerque from Dayton the day before the class started, checked out my auto rental at the airport and located my hotel where I had made reservations and checked in. I wanted to get a good night sleep and be ready for the first day of school. The classes were being held in a building just eight blocks away, I could have caught a bus to and from the school. However, I had been to Albuquerque before and liked the area. When I go to a city I always like to drive around and take a new route each day to learn more about the area.

The day school started, I was an early riser and caught a continental breakfast at the hotel. Went down to the parking garage and located the car opened the back and put all my school gear in the back seat and was on my way. Just as I approached the signal light on 17th Street the light turned red and I had to stop at the intersection. The light turned green and I started to move thru the intersection just as I entered the intersection a truck was running the red light and I did a hard stop, barely letting him pass. This abrupt stop by me, caused the individuals behind me to plow in to my cars rear-end. All I remember is the violent crash behind me and everything went black.

One week later I woke up in the local hospital. The doctor stated that I was lucky to be alive; my seat belt was the only thing that saved me. The officer that took my statement said "you stopped to keep from being hit by the red light runner", everyone in back could not stop and piled into the rear of my car. Luckily all had air bags and they deployed, so no injuries were sustained. The officer took my statement and left. This beautiful young lady introduced herself as Carmela and said she was driving the car just behind me and would have stopped but could not. I thanked her for coming to see me and she was gone before I realized it. I was still a bit groggy and sore all over. My doctor stated that I had a severe backlash, several bruised ribs and scrapes and that I would have to remain the hospital a few days for further observation and treatment.

Carmela came to visit me each day and I found that she was a New

Mexico Native and was born and went to school in Santa Fe, leaving

To attend college at UT at El Paso, majoring in criminology, after

Graduating she was selected to attend FBI School for Ballistics and

Fingerprint identification in Washington, D. C. Upon graduation she

Returned to Albuquerque and is now employed by the local Police as

A Fingerprint and Ballistic Analyst, in the Police Laboratory.

In a couple of weeks the hospital let me out for a weekend pass, Carmela showed me the part of New Mexico that the tourists hardly ever see. I became so attracted to Carmela that when we were together it seemed that the earth stood still and like that heaven and earth was one. I was discharged from the hospital, I took a leave of absence from my job so I could continue my convalescing and we could spend time together before I had to return to Dayton.

I had never met anyone like her, she seemed to like everything that I liked, just simple things like going for a walk in the park, listening to music together. She liked to read, sing, and tell jokes and stories. She had some great stories handed down from her grandparents. She had a deep love for the outdoors, horses, dogs and people. She would laugh at my corny jokes even if I had told them before. One of the things she liked is to "fly fish" for trout and New Mexico had some great trout fishing streams and we would go fishing often.

To soon, my leave of absence was up and I don't know who cried the most Carmela or I. We had become so attached to each other it was just like losing a friend. It was terrible to have to leave her for even a week.

When I arrived back in Dayton, I immediately set to work trying to find out how I could move to Albuquerque. I found out my company had a subsidiary assembly plant at Sandia Crest just north of Albuquerque and they were looking for a new plant manager. I nearly broke my neck getting to Human Resources to apply for a job there. Two weeks later I was notified that I had a job there as the plant manager. I could hardly wait to tell Carmela that I was being reassigned to Sandia Crest. Two weeks later I was on an airplane headed to Albuquerque, for my new assignment and to be with Carmela. She met me at the Airport with her Mom and Dad. They had a celebration that lasted all night. Her family was in the mining industry of turquoise and had a large lapidary business that had been in the family for generations.

My new job was going to be very easy one. All the people that I supervised were experienced individuals and really knew how to get things done and done right.

Four months later I ask Carmela to marry me and she accepted we planned the wedding to coincide with a family holiday so most of her relatives and friends could attend; she had lived all her life there and had many friends and relatives.

We were both busy with work but would find time to be together weekends. We became closer together and found out our individual habits and desires. All I wanted was to be with Carmela for the rest of my life and she felt the same way. During the next several months we had a few days off that we could look for a place for us to live and fix it up just to suit us both. We found the perfect place for us to live; her family owned several condos and sold us a very nice one that had a balcony that faced a big yard with a lot of grass and trees. It was a perfect location and near things that we needed. Carmela's family treated me as one of their own.

Both of us could hardly wait till our wedding day. Soon it was the day we had been waiting for.

We had a beautiful Mass and Reception that lasted most of the day. We left for our honeymoon by airplane; we had planned a trip to Cancun, Mexico for five days. We arrived around noon so we had time to see some of the city before dinner. The service at dinner was wonderful and had a menu with anything you could ask for. Our honeymoon night came and it was as beautiful as I thought it would be. Carmela and I began the journey of our life together as man and wife. Early in our relationship we knew we were meant to be together. It was so easy to fall in love with Carmela she was devoted to me since we first met. I knew that we were meant to be together for the rest of our lives from the first time we met. We had a wonderful time just taking our time and relaxing in the sun and surf. The five days seemed to pass too quickly and we soon had to take the trip back to Albuquerque.

We had already set up our house, all we had to do was move in, get settled and enjoy being together for the rest of our lives.

The End

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