On October 9, 1994 my brother and I headed out for a night on the town. My job? Designated driver. His job? Well, that should be obvious based upon my job. He was the designated drunk guy. (Just so nobody gets the image that my brother is somehow a drunken slob, he was going through a rough time, and I suggested a night out. And he DID spend eight years in the Navy. You know, drunken sailor, and all.)
For the record, my brother did a REALLY good job that night. At one point, he asked me for $10 to get a pizza, which I considered a good idea, given his general condition. I was mildly amazed when the waitress delivered the pizza. In a pitcher. Which was needed because the pizza was liquid. And looked like beer.
I took immediate countermeasures to minimize the likelihood of my having to physically carry my brother out of the club. That involved giving away pitchers of beer as fast as my brother could order them. Most of the people gladly accepted the free beer.
All except one woman. She was drinking rum and coke. So, I offered to buy her another round. After all, it would be rude to give everyone else free booze and leave her hanging. The only issue is that she was driving and didn't need another drink.
Not to be deterred, I offered to get her a soda or something. She accepted that, and I ordered a coke. Except it was free, because I was the designated driver. And my brother was bankrolling their night buying beer by the keg.
No beer. No rum and coke. Free soda. It was an outrage. I HAD to BUY this woman something. So, I took the obvious step of asking her out to dinner. Well, if I had any money left after my brother was done ordering beer.
We went out for dinner a few days later. At some point, we took in a movie and started going out more often.
One year later, on October 10th, I asked her to marry me.
Two years after that, on October 11th, we got married.
That was 10 years ago. And while she hasn't been "Mrs. Pol" for all those years, she is the love of my life and the mother of our two wonderful kids. She has helped me through some fairly amazing journeys, including Ironman. And she has some pretty awesome accomplishments of her own.
It's sometimes hard to understand why things happen. That October 9th so many years back, my brother was faced with divorce and needed a night out. In the end, he went on and found the woman he was meant to be with. And his night of buying more beer than he could possibly need led to my finding my wife.
9, 10, 11. Important numbers in our life.
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