Everything you need to know about the infamous
Richard Allen Walker
1. He is about to be 45- he's almost 8 years older than me. This is both of our first marriages... although he was once engaged.
(to she who must not be named!)
2. He has lived in PA almost his entire life, with a brief stint in Missouri. Not only has he lived in PA most of his life, he has lived in the same county. So have his ancestors for the last 300 some years.
3. He is a school bus driver and loves his job. He has the same job for 14 years.
4. He is not literal like my sisters husbands- we just have very different senses of humor. His is more "Tommy Boy" and mine is more "Caddy Shack". He told me once that most people would say I was odd, not funny.
(it was said in a caring way but it made me laugh so hard)
5. He is the second oldest of 5. He has two sisters and two brothers, though his brother Kevin died at the age of 3.
6. His hobbies include: watching trains, going for random drives, movie watching, getting involved in very local politics, experimenting with bachelor style food (root beer chicken!) and being on facebook.
7. We met at church about two and a half years ago when he converted. My sister Erin pestered me for years to date him. I just thought we were too different. Until I dated some jerks and thought "I need a nice guy"
8. He is about 3 inches taller than me and has dark hair and green eyes. They are a combination of his German and English heritage. I hope our daughters have green eyes.
9. His parents are divorced and do not like each other. I still have not met his mother but I adore his dad and his stepmom, Jane.
10. He proposed to me in my parents kitchen and gave me the EXACT ring I wanted!
(with a little guidance from my sister!)
11. He has never once raised his voice to me or said anything mean. Even when I had been up for 48 hours and was honestly a little delusional and I accused him of kidnapping Baron Trump.
12. My family makes fun of me because I like generic food- stuff that is not cooked with love. Rich takes it to a whole other level- He only eats processed things and is suspicious of home cooking.
13. He joined the church after his dad and stepmom were baptized while living in Colorado.
14. He quit smoking after 24 years.
15. He likes to tell me "I'm a convert" with the tone of "I'm a bad boy". I don't have the heart to tell him that I've probably done more crazy stuff than him. He is a such a good, decent guy at heart.
16. He was a volunteer fireman for years. He is as patriotic as me but more from a local level perspective, while I tend to focus on national.
17. We are different in almost every way but have some random things in common- the most difficult commonality is our tendency to hyper focus on things- like this morning I found old lottery tickets and was fixated on checking to see if we had won and he was fixated on FINALLY taking the Christmas tree down to the trash. He kept interrupting me and I was like "Will you let me obsess about this please?"
18. He is so ticklish it's ridiculous. It's my secret weapon against him.
19. He has never analyzed his very dysfunctional family and doesn't seem to understand why I constantly analyze mine. He and his mother haven't really talked in years and I asked him why and he was like "I don't know".
20. I see hints of this underlying brilliance when I least expect it- we were furniture shopping at the thrift store and he kept commenting on the lines of pieces- he has a good eye for aesthetics and we both love sort of Old American style. Our dream is to own and restore an old PA stone farmhouse.
21. I see this brilliance in him in other areas too- sometimes his comments are so insightful or sometimes his perspective is so unique. I make it a point to tell him when I see stuff like that because I don't think he has gotten a lot of positive reinforcement in his life.
22. I am trying to break him of using the word "yous"
23. He is back in classes two nights a week, working on his GED. I am so proud!
(especially after I took some practice tests with him online...holy Hannah- the GED is NOT easy!)
24. He has friends and connections everywhere- making him a good balance to my life as a social recluse.
I could go on and on...I just want my daughters (I keep telling him we are going to have two dark haired, green eyed daughters!) to read this one and see all the things that are interesting and great and crazy about their dad.
Lori Ann Walker
(aka Mrs Richard Walker)
