Chortling With Noah

I first met him when I was only fifty-eight. I was in the pizza parlor carrying a sack when he struggled in. He was wearing a jet black nose ring, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his toenail, but I pretended not to notice.

I was about to set the sack down when he crept beside me. I guess he startled me, and I clumsily dropped the sack right by his feet. We both bent over to pick it up. It was one of those awkward moments, and we both began to chortle.

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the bike shop for a fruit smoothie. I accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the bike shop, I learned that his name was Noah, and that he was a pharmacist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as an elementary school teacher.

I guess it was love at first chortle. Some might say we had garbage cans in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. He was thirteen years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still chortling for each other.