Standing By With Vilmer

I first met him when I was only eighteen. I was in the police station carrying an African violet when he darted in. He was wearing a metallic red coat, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his hand, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the movie theater for a cup of coffee. I accepted, and our relationship took off from there. We didn't even know each other's names yet.

At the movie theater, I learned that his name was Vilmer, and that he was a dermatologist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a scientist.

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