THE GIRL IN THE BLUE DRESS
By Stan Hitchcock
On December 2, 1984, I was participating in one of cable television’s premiere events, "The Western Show", held in the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. I was heading up a new start-up cable television network called Country Music Television (CMT) and I had brought Conway Twitty to the convention to focus attention on CMT. That night, in the middle of the lobby of the Anaheim Hilton, I was introduced to my future wife, a beautiful woman in a blue dress by the name of Denise Thornburg. Now, I didn’t know she was my future wife but God had a real special blessing in store for me. I was just recovering from a pretty rough divorce and the last thing I believed I needed was a WIFE. Now when I say we were introduced, I mean a very quick intro and hand shake and then "poof" she’s off in a whirlwind of activity. I just kinda stood there in a daze, thought, "hmmmmm, very nice", and went on about my business of cable television.
A couple of months later, in February, 1985, a friend of mine that worked with me at CMT was in California for some meetings and in one of the meetings he ran into Denise, who was a Vice President of a Cable Television PR and Marketing company located in California. Denise gave him her business card to bring back to me and wrote on the back, "the girl in the blue dress". When I was given the card a few days later I immediately picked up the phone in my office and called Denise in California. We chatted awhile and I told her that I would be making a business trip to California soon and maybe we could get together.
In April of 1985 I checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel, made my way up to my room and called Denise at her office and told her I was in town....and how about some supper tonight. That evening I slicked up some (put on clean Levi’s, and shined my boots) and went downstairs to meet Denise. I must have looked quite the hillbilly come to town, my black Levi’s, black silk shirt and Pink (yeah, that’s right PINK....you got a problem with that?) raw silk sport jacket, and my yellow Tony Lama’s shined up and looking good. Hey, I spent most of my life on stage and we dress funny. Now, if you have ever been inside the Beverly Hills Hotel it’s all decorated in Green and PINK, so I looked like I was camouflaged, especially for the Hotel. I stepped off the elevator and there stood "the woman in the blue dress" that I would spend the rest of my days with...Denise Thornburg...wow, what a woman she is too...sure she’s beautiful, but that is not what strikes you first about Denise...it’s a certain glow that she seems to carry....a glow of goodness that is so evident that everyone who meets her senses it. I may be a hillbilly, but son, I can spot a thoroughbred when I see one, and when I stepped off that elevator, in the Beverly Hills Hotel, gaudy in my hillbilly finery and with a wounded heart that needed healing....my life changed forever. Miss Denise was fixing to make me whole and prove that everyone really does have a soul mate....it just takes some of us a little longer to find ‘em.
What followed was a whirl wind romance (no, I’m not gonna give you the details of it all, what, you think I’m crazy?) After the weekend in Beverly Hills, a month later, we spent the week at the National Cable Television Convention in Las Vegas....how nice that they schedule these industry events to coincide with my romance. At the end of the week in Vegas, I proposed, she accepted.....I went back to Nashville and bought an engagement ring and had it FedEx’d to Hollywood, where her office was located. We were married in September of 1985, on stage at Music Village USA with all my music buddies coming and wishing us well....it was a glorious event.
We bought a log house in Sumner County and a little patch of land to keep a few horses and we had a life...some would say, ‘bout dang time. I adopted a scripture as my daily creed: "THOSE WHO WAIT ON THE LORD, SHALL RENEW THEIR STRENGTH, THEY SHALL MOUNT UP WITH WINGS LIKE EAGLES, THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT BE WEARY, THEY SHALL WALK AND NOT FAINT." Isaiah 40:31 New King James Version. Most of the unhappiness in my life has been my inability to wait.....I am driven to run ahead, hey, I can do it by myself, no sweat, uh-huh....ok, how come you just fell on your butt then? Because, we are all basically selfish and self-centered...wanting to do it our way, like Elvis sang about…but, if we will wait and be patient, and really seek the way the Lord would have us go....well, then we can be eagles, the sky’s the limit. I had a real bad track record in my personal life but I was learning to wait on the Lord, and Denise is my prize and my joy…and our son Scott will be 20 years old this year!
Your friend, Stan!
|
|
