How we meet our spouses

     There are probably as many stories on how people meet each other as there are people, but here is my story.  Names and some circumstances have been changed or omitted to protect the sensibilities of those who are still whiny-asses about the whole thing.  
     We have all heard of love at first sight, haven’t we?  For me, it was possible. Sort of.
     Mama (Carol) and I have been together now since early 1983, and while several details will be left out of this story due to the hurt egos of people involved (even after all these years), we are still together, so our “first sight” story is one that worked like it is supposed to.
     OK, not EXACTLY like it is supposed to. You’ll see. But let’s go back to the beginning,   
     Back in late 1982, Mama and I were both working at the same discount store. We had met, but didn’t really know each other.  We were both in other relationships at the time, and appeared to most folks to be happy in those relationships.  I admit that, in those days, we were both “flirts” who enjoyed the occasional innocent wink, off-handed comment, etc from people we would interact with. That is, until “the day”.  
     One day, Mama and I were passing each other in the hall at work and we both chose that moment to wink, and say “Hi”, to each other.  Words can’t adequately describe that moment.  The looks on her face of surprise, confusion, realization, then happiness, all within a split second, were probably mirrored by my own.  A feeling washed over me that I had no experience with, but I could not resist. I could see she was faced with the same realization.  We needed to be together. We were looking at “the one”.  What do we do now? Do we ignore it, since we are in other relationships? Do we discuss it? Jump right in with both feet?  
     We tried all of the above. Could not ignore it…(Really, really tried). Scared to discuss it, (we couldn’t have found the right words), but we both instinctively knew the path we had to follow if we were going to be happy. Find any excuse possible to be near each other. Then, fate intervened, and there was that supposedly “innocent” kiss at a party. From there, our lives were permanently changed. We have been together ever since. Not exactly the textbook definition of “love at first sight”, and definitely messier than people usually imagine, since we had to end other relationships to begin ours, but I bet it is as close as you can get.