From: Marty Walter
Subject: retort to Jan 27 post
Date: January 27, 2014 8:27:32 PM CST
To: Troy L DeArmitt

Dear Troy,
In the last paragraph of  your wonderful post regarding the photo of us in your Mizzou dorm room, you stated that, "Marty did not share in this [intensity of my early attraction]."

I wish to emphatically state that you are wrong in this assessment of my attraction to you.
I had never experienced a first date like the one that we shared on January 10, 1990, at a restaurant in CWE.
(And you can appreciate the full extent of this statement as you are aware that I had many first dates.)
I remember that the entire world melted away during the time between appetizers and dessert.
I forgot about the other couple across the table from us, the waiters, the other guests.
I could only see and hear you. You were the only thing that existed for me during those moments.
I remember laughing as you handed me a $1 dollar bill so that we could officially split the bill dutch.
I remember folding and tucking that $1 bill into the corner of my wallet so that I was sure never to spend it.
...
Now I had a problem. I was 18 and had met the man that I could see myself marrying.
I wanted to finish college, I wanted to live on my own, I wanted to be independent, I wanted to be selfish, but I also wanted you.
I thank you for giving me the time to finish checking my boxes over the next 8 years.
When we married on January 10, 1998, I was able to stand beside you as a confident woman on equal footing without any regrets.

I thank you for your patience during those 8 years. It was never a delay tactic so that I could have time to decide if I wanted to spend my life as your partner. I knew that a month into our relationship. I just needed time to become the woman that I wanted to be and who I was supposed to be.

Thank you for giving me the gift of time.
Marty