Prepping for the Love Story ~ Memphis, the Professional Years

When I first started at Baptist, I was the Publications Editor, yes I wrote for a living and let me just say, I had no idea what I was doing. But, I winged it pretty well (kind of like my blog as I find the need to do when I have a two-year-old wanting a banana and the mush ends up in my keyboard). After a few months, I was approached by the lady who was going to take over the marketing department offering me a position as a marketing coordinator. It was a good move career-wise, so I jumped at it.

Now, the lady that took over the marketing department had major emotional issues and our department frequently received the brunt of her craziness. We never knew what to expect, she was your best friend one day and the next she was re-organizing the whole department because she wanted you to report to someone else. Usually it was because someone in one of the main departments at the hospital befriended you and she was jealous, then the next week she was going to change it back because she liked you again. Um, was this high school, oh no, this was the professional world. There are many, many examples of her wackiness, if I ever feel like I am running out of things to blog about, all I have to do is remember crazy Marketing Director Woman and I could write a few weeks worth.

I made friends quickly at Baptist, the marketing department was the fun place to work. As I look back now, of course hindsight is 20/20 and now I am much more aware of these types of things, but I can see how the Lord strategically put people in my path for me to learn some small lessons from and some big doozies. O.K. crazy Marketing Director Woman gave me some of those big doozie lessons.

One of the first people I met and bonded with was Pat, she had worked for Baptist for umpteen years. She was one of the nicest, coolest, fun people to be around and she is a devout Christian. She has a husband who she adores and during our times together at Baptist she started laying the foundation for me in showing how to fully love a husband. We had lunch together almost everyday and I truly adore this woman.

Most of the single people in the marketing department hung out together. For any of you who are scrapbookers, don’t be jealous, but Marci over at Make Art Everyday was one of my friends. (And, yes Boo Mama and I were in the same high school social club, we could probably play six degrees of separation and you and I would know each other). Anyway, weekends in Memphis were filled with fun ~ from Redbirds baseball games to dinner parties to one of the many wonderful restaurants Memphis has to offer. I was loving my mid-20s, I felt that I had it made, a great apartment on the River, a job that paid pretty well and some nice friends, but there was something missing ~ a man.

I was looking for marriage material in the Memphis dating pool, but most of the guys I met just wanted to go out all the time and have fun. Plus, at 27 I was getting old, meaning most of the guys my age were dating 21 year olds, it came down to maturity level. There were dates with accountants to lawyers to doctors, many duds. A couple years into my Memphis time, I met and started dating a Radiologist resident, he was my only real serious boyfriend that I had while in Memphis and that relationship just totally combusted.

Among other things, the Marketing Department was responsible for trade shows. So, in March of 1999, we were preparing for the Southern Women’s Show, when……



We are closer than ever to the first glimpse of my Park Ranger, please give me a little linky love today, I would really appreciate it. It would be great to increase my readership for "the meeting".

The Park Wife


Chapter 6 : The Day I met The Park Ranger