Another Silly Love Song

By Rick Aper

Growing up the second of three sons in a small town in Northern Illinois, raised by hard working middle class parents, I always seemed to be doing the wrong things with the wrong friends. Throughout high school this continued. Within one year of high school graduation, nine of the people that I spent my time with were dead, one was in prison. I knew I had to seriously change the direction of my life. I did repent of my sin's and my life and was given the new direction I was desperate for. All I ever really wanted was to grow up and find my perfect wife and live a happy and good life with our children. I did find my perfect wife. This is the story of the most wonderful girl I have ever known; Linda Diane Gribben Aper, my bride.This is a woman who raised two sons, made their baby food, made the beds every day, kept a beautiful house. She drove the boys to school every day. She read, sang, and prayed with them every day. She sang in the choir, assisted in directing the children's choir. She coached teen Bible quizzing for 17 years. She crocheted baby blankets for every niece and nephew as they were born. She tole painted amazing works of art. She also had time to be my best friend. The girl I always dreamed of. These things might seem fairly ordinary, yes maybe for an ordinary person. Linda was no ordinary person. And now, after a lifetime of joy and tears,I wonder, how can I tell you about my loved one?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781640287457

Book preview

New Beginnings

On September 20, 1978, due to a series of life circumstances, I found myself brought to my knees asking God to forgive me, heal me, and help me deal with life. I wanted to know that He was real, that salvation was real, that we in fact could be delivered from the trouble that we seem to create for ourselves. He answered. He did deliver me from my torment. I did stand up as a new person; my thoughts, my emotions, my perspective was changed in a moment. I was not the same, I could no longer be the same, ever. God is real. Salvation is real.

Even though I grew up in a churchgoing family I really didn’t know much about the Bible or Christianity. What I did know is that the Spirit of God Himself bore witness to my spirit. This was an amazing transformation and therefore a pretty good start; however, I didn’t know what to do next.

I felt that I now needed to go to college. Despite the fact that I had always hated school and received a high school diploma that I did not earn or deserve. My high school granted me a GPA of 1.7 on a 4.0 scale, upon graduation. I was not ready for college at all. I spent my high school years doing the wrong things with the wrong people. Within one year after graduation from high school, nine of the guys that I spent my time with were dead, and one was in prison. All nine deaths were the result of drugs and alcohol. Two of these guys I had known since kindergarten, one since third grade. I now believed I needed to learn and go in a different direction with my life. So, in 1979 I enrolled at a private Christian church school, Olivet Nazarene College. On January 1, 1980, I packed up my car and drove to Kankakee, Illinois.

Walking into the administration building, I announced my presence. The woman looked me up and said, Okay, you’re in the freshman dorm, Chapman Hall, right over there. Then she added, But first, I am looking at your file and I see no record of your SAT scores.

What’s an SAT? I asked. The woman explained that they were a series of tests on different subjects which must be completed for college, and I had not done them.

So, she scheduled me in multiple timed sessions to complete these tests, and I don’t think I finished any of them on time, except one. I returned that one to her before the time was up. You still have more time, she said.

I replied, It doesn’t matter how long I have. I can’t complete it.

Okay, she said. Come back tomorrow, we’ll have all your scores for you then.

When I returned for my results, I thought maybe I wouldn’t be allowed to attend college. However, the woman said, Oh, it really doesn’t matter. Your January term class will be an English class on a probationary trial basis. I never received any scores on those tests. I really did not want to know the scores, because I’ m sure they were not good. I am guessing my reading level was about seventh or eighth grade level.

The class lasted three weeks and I attended every day. I had to learn to read and study for the first time in my life, but for the first time in my life, I wanted to. I worked very hard.

Meeting Linda

About one week into this term I was in the library studying and a girl walked up and introduced herself as Linda Gribben. She was tall and thin with long dark, straight hair. We talked for about ten minutes. I could only think, This is a wonderful place. It’s only January when only about one hundred of the students are here, I want to stay here . So, I continued to try hard to learn and at the end of January I got my first college grade. An A! Yes, I received an A in the class for my efforts.

As the spring semester rolled along, I met many wonderful people. I believe it was the best time of my life. I said hello to Linda occasionally but we never dated. I did go on dates with a number of other girls—church, dinner, dessert, bowling, pizza, and variety shows on campus.

At one of these shows, different groups got onstage and did silly skits or music. After a break and a stage change, a small musical group took the stage—a guy and a girl playing guitars, and another girl: it was Linda from the library conversation. They sang beautifully together. The girl with the guitar was named Lorraine.

Some months later there was a computer dating service on campus in which students filled out date info they were interested in and it would match them up. For entertainment value it seemed everybody filled out these questionnaires and turned them in. I requested a tall girl with long hair from the East who could sing. I got my results back and the second name of three on my list was Linda Gribben.

Our First Date

Some time passed and I stayed busy with school, work, dating, and getting to know more people every day. One of the guys who worked out at the gym was my neighbor across the hall in my dorm. In the fall of 1980, we decided it would be fun if we went on a double date, so I had to come up with someone to go with. I asked one girl who couldn’t go, so I thought of this singing girl Linda. She accepted, so we went in my blue Ford pickup truck to a movie, Stir Crazy with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. After the movie we went ice skating.

We enjoyed being with each other so we continued to do stuff together—church, dinner (in the cafeteria), and taking long walks together in the wilderness along the river near the campus. During these times I learned that Linda was raised in Ohio in a pastor’s home and was a senior nursing student.

My Medical History

Ioften met with Linda and her nursing student friends for lunch and listened to them talk about the interesting day they had at the hospital—delivering babies, viewing surgeries like amputations, etc. (while I was trying to eat lunch).

I was very squeamish about hospital stuff as I had health issues as a young teenager. Bruises formed in various places on my body where I had not been hit, and I would pass out frequently with nosebleeds and weakness. The doctors—with all their training—determined that in order to fix my problem, they needed to drain all the blood out of my body. No, not all at once; just a little tube of it at a time about twice a week. This horrified me. Every time I had to give blood I passed out. It almost felt like dying, but then I’d come back. Every time I smelled alcohol, I passed out and felt like vomiting. This was real torture to me. Finally, after two to three