Introduction

The narrative of this blog is written in the first person by Danny. In all fairness, there is another side which would be from Lora’s perspective, however, because this blog has been started by me you may get my account, only. I will make every effort to make it as balanced as possible.


The Early Years—How We Met

I met Lora Vogt at Ventura High School in 1964. I was a junior and dated her twin sister, Lorna. Many years later my mother reminded me of when I told her, “I’d like to go out with Lora but she already has so many boyfriends!”

Lora 1966 Senior Picture


Danny 1965 Senior Picture


Flash forward fifteen years (1979) and I’m walking through the mall and run into Connie, a friend of Lora’s. She knows I’m going through a divorce (she had worked with my ex-wife) and she asked if I was dating. The simple answer was no. She suggested I should give Lora a call since she, too, was divorced and living in Ventura. “Match Maker” Connie called Lora to tell her of our meeting and her suggestion for me to call. Lora was furious at her friend and made it clear her match making efforts were destined for failure.

A few weeks later I’m thinking about giving Lora a call. No particular reason and my thought was it might be fun to have dinner and catch up on the years since high school. After gathering my courage I made the call and asked her out for the same evening to which she said no thanks because she had plans. (She later admitted there were no plans but she took issue with the short notice.) Deflated but not defeated, I called her back and asked for the following weekend to which she consented. It was obvious I had been away from dating for awhile when she commented, “Been a long time, huh, Danny?”

The next few months were a whirlwind of dating. After that casual first dinner I knew Lora was someone I wanted to know better and we mutually pursued one another in our new relationship. One amusing, and uncomfortable, evening I agreed to pick up Lora at her mother and father’s house to double-date with Lorna and her husband, Paul. Not only was I apprehensive at the prospect of seeing Lorna again but walking up to the house was a déjà vu experience right out of high school. When I knocked on the door Lorna answered with her mother alongside welcoming me just as she had done many years before.

We were married six months later on Valentine’s Day, 1980. It was a simple ceremony at the home of her parents with just a few friends and family. A heavy rainstorm was outside and someone mentioned that a marriage day with lots of rain produces a big family. Hold that thought because in future postings you will become to appreciate just how prophetic that was.

We had our wedding reception a few days later and more rain nearly kept our guests from arriving. We were leaving the next day for a honeymoon in Hawaii. Fortunately I booked plane tickets to Los Angeles from our local airport because the roads were closed when it came time to leave. It was, however, a roller coaster ride in a small plane for a terrifying fifteen minutes. Lora refused to get on the plane bound for Hawaii until we consumed a couple of Bloody Mary’s. She then relaxed enough to board where we found our seat assignments were overbooked. Our plane departed Los Angeles with us in separated seats but the flight attendants moved us to first class where we enjoyed free drinks until landing in Honolulu.

Returning to Ventura a week later we began the process of living as husband, wife and future parents. The plan was to have a family and because I was thirty-three with Lora only a year younger we knew we wanted to begin soon.

Now you know how we met. I’ll begin a new posting to cover the next few years and our attempts to start a family. Please come back for “Babies and Us”.