Dawdling With Sanjay

I first met him when I was only forty-seven. I was in the novelty shop carrying a bag of groceries when he set out in. He was wearing a teal black armband, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his ankle, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the drug store, I learned that his name was Sanjay, and that he was a shopkeeper. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a social worker.

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