Growling With Marina

I first met her when I was only fifty-five. I was in the shoe store carrying a yo-yo when she inched in. She was wearing an emerald green garland, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her big toe, but I pretended not to notice.

I was about to set the yo-yo down when she waded beside me. I guess she startled me, and I clumsily dropped the yo-yo right by her feet. We both bent over to pick it up. It was one of those awkward moments, and we both began to growl.

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

At the insurance agency, I learned that her name was Marina, and that she was a jeweler. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a football coach.

I guess it was love at first growl. Some might say we had tennis rackets in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. She was four years younger than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still growling for each other.