This past weekend, it was Oktoberfest in La Mesa, where I met my husband 21 years ago. He lived on Lemon Avenue and I lived about three blocks away......also on Lemon Avenue...
Now that we have moved from Lemon, we have to drive and park, so this year we were able to find a spot right by his old house and asked the lot attendant to take a picture of us.
I always had walked downtown to the affair; back then it was a more authentic Oktoberfest with German dancing, food, and of course beer. I would stop by a certain bar for a draft beer and it was always crowded and a lot of fun activities going on (normally I don't drink beer too much, but it was a kind of tradition back then). Now it is more of a large craft fair, with a beer garden all fenced off and way away from any festivities, not really that much fun because of all the people and strollers, etc.....but let me get back to my story...
Actually to make a long story short, I was walking home early evening on Saturday October 4, 1988, down the Lemon Avenue alley behind the bar, and as I passed by Steve's little house, the only one in the alley, several men approached me and began to harass me with sexist comments, and he came out and told them to quit bothering me. It turned out he knew these men as they would come around each Oktoberfest and drink a lot of beer and get very bold and ask to use his restroom! Pretty soon, the girlfriends of the men came out of the bar too and we all started talking and joking around outside his house. He offered me a beer, but I just thanked him for assisting me and told him I was going home and then to get something to eat. We got to talking about Mexican food, so next thing I knew, we had hopped into his Chevy truck and went to the local Roberto's, with the others following along. I invited them all back to my place to eat the take-out carne asada tortas and I would make coffee before everyone drove back home.
That's when I found out that Steve's elderly, widowed mother lived right across the street from me, also on Lemon Avenue!
I'll leave the rest of the details private, but, we were married one year later and have been inseparable ever since! We go the the Oktoberfest every year and we used to always eat at Roberto's, but they changed ownership and the carne asada is no longer as tasty, so we abandoned that tradition years ago, however we still walk down that alley and reminisce.
In another week, we will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary, on October 14. We like to make memories rather than give gifts. Since the traditional gift for 20 years is China, we have decided to go out to a nice Chinese restaurant in the Gaslamp, and that is also significant since our first "date" after meeting was at a Chinese restaurant!
I know, kinda corny, but we love doing things like that that have meaning only to the two of us......
