The BOND that was meant to be.

JOHN & KIMBERLY PULLEN

When a story begins before the two main characters are even aware...it seems that it was meant to be. My husband came to Fort Valley State College in the Fall of 1990. I came to Fort Valley State College in the Fall of 1991. A bright eyed, excited, smart and confident Freshman from Atlanta GA. Let's fast forward or it might not be enough time to tell the story. Winter Quarter of my freshman year rolled around quickly and I walked into the Horace Mann Bond building on the first day of classes to find my Political Science class. I recognized some of my classmates and some I did not and quickly realized their were Sophomores in this class as well. Professor Gupta told us to stand up and say our name, where we were from, and what high school we went to back home. This guy stood up introduced himself as John Pullen...said he was from Atlanta which caught my attention...and said he attended Mays High School. At that point I turned my nose up and stopped paying attention. Anyway about a month later, I noticed this guy sitting in the back of the class sharing a book with another female and he always had on these nice caps and he wore them pulled down low. He definitely caught my attention. Now you have to pay attention closely starting here...one day we left class and I was walking back towards the student center...I heard someone go pssstttt. IYKYK. In my head I said...oh no he didn't and I kept right on walking. He then proceeded to call my name...."Kim". I remember thinking...oh my, this is the guy...cause I recognized his voice...and although my heart was palpitating...I still kept walking like I did not hear him. One night after me and my crew had danced our hearts out at the Davison Hall Talent Show...I was walking back to my dorm passing Moore Hall and I saw a guy in his room through the window. It was him...the guy from my Political Science class. He quickly opened up his window and said, "Excuse me, what is your name?"...now that is more like it i thought. I said, "Kim". I remember him looking like well why didn't you answer me the other day. Lol. Anyway, that started a thing, that then became a college fling in the best way, that turned into us dating a few months after meeting, and that thing...6 years later became everything. We started dating around April of 92. And here is where the story had already started but WE just did not know. After high school I worked as part of my high school magnet program at a bank, Trust Company (Truist today) to be exact. Anyway that was my summer job before college. During my last week, I was saying goodbyes to all the wonderful adults I was working with and one young lady asked me where I was going to college. I proudly told her Fort Valley State College. She surprised me and said, "Oh wow, I went to Fort Valley for almost 2 years, I was a Dancing Doll when I was there, and I have a brother who goes there now". I thought, oh okay cool. Here is where you have to lean in to get it. This part of our story is happening before I even go to Fort Valley...I proceed to ask her what school did her brother graduate from in Atlanta and what was his name. She told me Mays High and told me his name was John. I knew many people from Mays but did not recognize that name. After work that day I even asked my friends and they did not know of him either. Now lets fast forward again as I truly thought nothing else about this moment...his name...the coworker...nothing until April of the next year. Yeah, so about this guy I had started dating...we came home to Atlanta one weekend and he called me and out of the blue said...."My sister knows you...she said she worked with you at the bank". I told him that she does not know me...that she must be mistaken. But, within a minute of talking and him trying to tell me that his sister really does know me...that moment in the summer before I left for college flooded into my mind like it was yesterday...I rapidly started to describe his sister to him...and then I blurted out..."Wow, you are the brother". He was like..."Huh". Yep...the brother that the random coworker had told me about before I went to college almost a year earlier...out of all the guys on campus...I had met him and we were now dating. (And no...him saying the exact three things on the 1st day of our Political Science class...that she had told me about him before I left for college...never connected until all those months later) I said, "You will not believe that your sister told me about you before I left for school and wow I ended up meeting you". I met this young man Winter 92 in the BOND building and that BOND has been unbreakable ever since. Of our years on campus together that was the only class we ever took together. We dated the rest of our years at Fort Valley. He was there as I pledged in Spring of 1994 (Eta Chapter). He was my escort when I was Miss Junior in 1994. We studied together, he was an Ag Engineering Major so he studied a lot. And I mean a lot. His parents let me ride on the hood of their car in the 1995 Homecoming Parade as Miss Eta. Between classes, student center parties, life, summer semesters, and being back in forth to Atlanta for weekends and summers we continued to date and our bond grew stronger. So many great memories of how our love story began at our dear Alma Mater and continues to this day. I graduated as part of the 1995 Centennial Class and he graduated in 1996. It started at Fort Valley, now we here....33 years together total and 26 plus years of marraige. It truly just seems like the BOND that started in the Bond building was just meant to be. After college, we both went back home to Atlanta. We added two little ones to our lives who are now both young adults and also college grads. While our story is not finished the beginning of our story remains near and dear to our hearts. 26 years of marraige does not come easy but we feel that there are three reasons we have made it, the first being God, second we decided that through whatever, it was going to be us against every thing life throws our way, we truly decided that whatever life brought we wanted to face it together and learned over the years that while love is feeling it is also a decision and we decided to love one another not just in good circumstances but through every circumstance, and lastly although we did not start out as best friends, through growing up together literally, we can say today that we are truly each others best friend. The relationships we forged with friends at Fort Valley State and the relationship we started with each other has helped to keep up grounded and in many ways has helped us keep going. And individually so much of what we learned as students on campus and the experiences continued to help us as we moved forward in our young lives. If I could talk to young people today who might be dating while in college, I would say don't take things too seriously except school of course. Remember anyone who you meet should add to and not subtract from you, should help you be better, and encourage you to stay focused on school and to do the right thing. I would also tell them that the young years are the time to be open to dating but it's okay to use the time to date non exclusively so you can figure out what it is you want from a partner. And of course that it is okay to not date and just focus on you as you learn more about yourself. Now of course there is always an opportunity to meet someone who is going to be your forever so be open to that too but they must know that every one is not their forever. Lastly we would say to remember the three F's...don't forget Faith in God or a higher power cause it can get you through some tough times, stay Focused on the positive, and have Fun cause those college years past fast and will be over before you know it. To all of our friends, our crew from our Valley years 1990-1996 you are part of our story too and we love yall. We are so glad that we went to Fort Valley...singing glory hallelujah...we are so glad!