When I married Ken, he was  totally self sufficient.  He had been in the Marine Corps for nine years.  Was a Captain.  He had been to war in Korea and flown over a hundred missions, spent a year in Occupied Japan, a year in the Philippines, and was at the time in Pensacola Florida teaching cadets how to land on a carrier.  He wanted me to be his wife, but he didn't really need me for anything.  I didn't know how to do anything anyway.  I didn't know how to cook, to clean a house and had never washed a load of clothes.  That's the truth.  I was pretty well useless.  But he loved me.

After six months, he was transferred to California as the Air Officer, 7th Regiment, teaching ground troops how to coordinate an air strike.  He had long hours and it was tiring, dirty work.  He would come in at the end of the day dead tired.  Ready to eat dinner, sit in the recliner, watch TV and unwind.

I, on the other hand, had spent the day alone.  No job.  No friends.  No family.  No car.  Stuck on a dirt hill at Camp Pendleton with nothing to do but wait for him to come home.  He was the only person I knew.  I was just a kid.  Eighteen years old.

One evening when I was cleaning up after dinner, I asked him to come help me and dry the dishes.  My dad always did the dishes.  I didn't think it was a big deal, but Ken did.  "I've been on my feet working all day.  I don't want to dry dishes."  One thing led to another and we had our first argument.  He was tired, and mad.  I was mad too.   I just wanted him to come in the kitchen to be with me.

So mad, that I determined I was going to do everything that I could to make him need me and then, when he did,  I was walking out the door.  I started taking care of his uniforms.  Which he had always done.  I washed his uniform shirts and starched and ironed seven sharp creases.  Perfectly.  I learned to cook and asked his Grandmother and his Mother for his favorite recipes.  Food was hot every time he came home.  The paper was in his chair and his pipe on the coffee table.

The Bible said that Adam needed a "Help-meet".  I started playing at that role.    Continued..........