OM+KC (part 1)

You all know that I am CRAZY about my husband.  You all know that I feel sooo blessed to have such a wonderful man to share my life with.  What you don’t know is how it all began.  I figured I would back up and give you some history.  A series of posts to explain how OM (Otey McCloy) and KC (Kathy Curry) became “The McCloys”.  So… here we go…

I graduated from high school in 1996 and headed off to college in Tennessee.  I arrived at college wide eyed and ready for an adventure (and BOY did I have some).  I had just completed four GREAT years of high school (I am one of the fortunate ones that LOVED every minute of high school) and couldn’t wait to get started on four more fantastic years.

I dated the same guy for three years of high school and ended my senior year single for the first time in my young life.  So when I headed off to college, a serious boyfriend was THE last thing on my mind.  But I never was the casual dating type so of course I jumped head first in to a series of long term relationships.  During my four and a half years of college I had three boyfriends…

#1 The “what the HECK was I thinking?” guy.
#2 The WAY fun dance all night and laugh your hiney off life of the party guy.
#3 The up and down, he said she said, DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA guy.

I learned some valuable lessons from these three guys.  I learned what I did want, I learned what I didn’t want, and most importantly… I learned who I was.  I learned that I didn’t need a boy to make me happy.

When I  graduated from college December 2000, I had already been working as the Ozark Region Rodeo Secretary for four months.  The Ozark Region is a division of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and it was (and still is) my job to handle all of the entries, rodeo set up, paperwork, and payoff, before, during, and after the college rodeos.  There are ten rodeos a year hosted by colleges all over the Midwest and the Southeast United States.  I travel to the ten rodeos and handle all things clerical.  Because secretarying these rodeos was my main source of income and it didn’t require me to live in any certain place, after graduation I packed up my truck, horse trailer, barrel horse, and everything I could cram in the rig and headed to live with my childhood friend Chad, in Marshall, Texas.  I tried my hand at rodeoing as a professional barrel racer.  To put it simply… that lasted about four months.  I had a GREAT time living down there, but after awhile, it seemed pointless.  I was burnt out on running barrels and decided I needed to live a horse free existence for awhile, so I AGAIN crammed all of my possessions in my rig (minus my barrel horse… he stayed with Chad) and headed to Indiana.  Back to my Mom & Dads.  Home.

It was now early summer 2001.  I was so glad to be home.  I was secretarying rodeos, substitute teaching, and working out like it was a third job.  I split my time in between my parents’ house and Branson, Missouri (staying with my friends the Sankeys).  I was happy.  I was making my own money (and spending it at a high rate of speed) and had nothing tying me to one place.  What more could a 23 year old want?  For some reason… I thought I wanted a man.  And I had my eye on one.

That “one” lived in Mississippi and we had casually talked off and on since my last semester of college.  At this point in my life I knew I wanted a Godly man.  A man that was truly seeking God’s will in his life.  A man that wanted to 100% live in line with God’s word.  The “one” sure made me think he was that kind of man.  We started talking more often and started traveling back and forth to see each other.  I started to believe that he was all he presented himself to be.  I prided myself in never being THAT girl.  I was never the STUPID girl that had the wool pulled over her eyes.  To say that the “one” made me eat my words would be the understatement of the century.  Turns out the “one” had a few other friends that I never knew about.  Once again, I learned a valuable lesson… maybe being happy and alone was the way to go.

July 2001 I was in Ogden, Utah hanging out with a good friend of mine for a couple of weeks and the Ogden Pro Rodeo happened to be going on.  DeWitt, (another good friend of mine) was there judging the rodeo.  I gave DeWitt a ride to the rodeo one afternoon and decided just to hang out in the office with the secretary and visit.  A couple of cowboys that I didn’t know came in the office and were chatting it up with each other and the conversation went something like this…

“What is old Oatmeal doing these days?”

“He got a coaching job!  Can you believe Otey McCloy is going to be a rodeo coach?”

“Oh ya?  Where at?”

“I don’t know… some little school in Missouri.”

This is when my radar went off. See, Missouri is part of the Ozark Region and I knew that Missouri Valley College was in the process of hiring a new rodeo coach.  **Huh.  This Otey guy must be their new coach.  I wonder if he’s young or old.  That name sounds familiar. I hope he’s not some dumb butt.  I hope he’s good to work with.  I hate it when we get new coaches in the region.  Man… I hope he’s good to work with.  I wonder if he’s hot?**

After the rodeo that day I asked DeWitt if he knew this Otey McCloy.  I was just curious if I was going to have to work with some knuckle head.  DeWitt’s response?  “Now THAT is a good man Kathy!  THAT is a good Christian man.  THAT is the kind of guy you should be dating instead of messing around with those looser boys who pretend to be a man”.  You see, DeWitt knew most of the story of me and the “one” so he was always trying to match make for me.  But why did everyone think I needed a boyfriend?  23 isn’t old.  I was young.  I was happy.  I didn’t need a boy let alone a man.  Still, with DeWitt’s energetic response, again the deep questions loomed in the back of my head…

**I wonder if he’s hot?**

Deep.

I know.

To be continued…