How I Met Your Mother

Uncategorized 3 Minutes

Fifty years ago to the day, on the last Friday of April in 1974, I drove my 1970 forest green Camaro onto the dusty gravel parking lot of a church on Olive Ave in Fresno CA. I was picking up a carload of youth group kids to take them to Southern California for the weekend. I did not want to go. I was taking 22 units in my final semester of college, and finals were coming up so I really needed the study time.

Rusty, the youth group leader and a friend of mine, had called me in desperation earlier in the week to ask if I would do this. She started reeling off the names of all the people she had already asked and they all had turned her down. “You’re my last hope.” 

Sigh.

“By the way,” she continued, “Carol Harder is the youth group leader for the Reedley kids, and she will also be going.” 

Hmmm. I had never met Carol Harder, or even seen her, but for some reason that piqued my interest and I agreed to go.

As I waited, other cars pulled up including one from Reedley. A beautiful young blonde woman popped out of the car, smiled at me, and said “Hi! I’m Carol.” Introductions over, we divided up the passengers into the two cars that were going. Carol was in the other car. 

We stopped for gas at a run-down truck stop in the nowhere town of Mettler, and everyone got out for a stretch. Somehow, Carol and I ended up talking to each other while walking away from the rest of the group. I do not recall anything about our conversation other than at some point she let out a mild four letter word. ‘This is not your typical Mennonite girl,’ I thought to myself. But I was not your typical Mennonite boy, so my interest level was increasing.

We arrived at our destination, everyone got out, and the plan had been that I would spend the weekend with my cousin Paul in Riverside, and then meet back on Sunday after church. As I was unloading luggage, however, Carol said “you can come back for the church service on Sunday if you want.” Going to church was not high on my list back then, but seeing more of Carol was. I agreed.

Over the weekend my cousin and I had a lot of fun looking at warbirds at the Chino airport and going to see The Sting at a drive-in, but I kept thinking about this girl I had just met. 

Sunday morning, Carol and I met in the back of church. She was a knockout in her orange polka dot mini-dress. We found a pew where we could sit together.

Church ended, and everyone got back in the cars in which they came, Carol once again in the other car. Half way back to Fresno we stopped to eat a late lunch in a park just off Highway 99 in Pixley. Carol and I found ourselves sitting together at a picnic table. Our conversation flowed easily, and Carol finagled with one of the kids to switch cars so she could sit with me in my car on the way home. At some point during the trip back, I invited her to go see a movie with me – The Sting. She said yes.

From that point on, we were almost inseparable. I went off to law school in September, and we were married in December.

Tonight, we will celebrate 50 years from the day we first met by watching The Sting on TV, while enjoying one of our favorite meals from when we were first married: hot dogs and mac n’ cheese.

Carol is still as beautiful as the day I met her. A blonde bombshell. We have upgraded our culinary tastes since then. But not for tonight.

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Published by Ken Fransen

Ken Fransen is a writer-photographer who divides his time between Portland and Newport, Oregon.

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21 thoughts on “How I Met Your Mother”

  2. What a great story! Like most of us, you’ve had some bumps along the way, but you have made your 50 years delightful and fun!!! Love you both so much! 🎉❤️🎉❤️🎉

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  5. Beautiful story. It appears we all have been given our writing prompts. I’ll get on that. However, I had always held out hope that the Camaro was “British Racing Green.” “He grew up as a young wild Mennonite boy on the Winnepeg prairie, and when he eventually got to be old enough to have a car, it was a Camaro. ‘But Mom and Dad, it’s not really a sports car, just “sporty,” see? And it’s green. Forest green. A calming sedate color.’ Little did they know it was British Racing Green and little did they know what happened on the Fresno Flatlands, although his father had his suspicions.” But I digress.

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  7. Thanks for sharing the story. Very special. 50 years of significant. You are blessed to have each other. Happy anniversary!

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  10. It’s been a while since your last installment. I love it, as always. Amazing how life’s simple twists and turns lead us in unexpected directions. In this case Robert Frost would have to have said “The road taken, and that has made all the difference!” Paul

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  11. congratulations, you two! You look smashing🤩. 50 happy years together is a wonderful milestone. Enjoy your Mac’n’cheese. Still one of my favourite lunches!

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  12. Ken:

    What a lovely “two wasted minutes” . . . I always enjoy reading of your adventures, challenges and stories. It reminds me of what is important in life especially as the years wane. Fifty years is 1/2 of a century. That’s a lot of life and adventure lived together. Congratulations to you both.

    Laurie

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  13. Hi Cuz! What a wonderful story of how you both met!! Thanks for sharing a bit more of your life! You are certainly a gifted writer!! I just love reading your stories and getting to know you better!! You’re both looking so smart and stylish!!😊Belated congratulations on 50 years together!!!🥰💐🎉♥️♥️♥️

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