Smiling With Raúl

I first met him when I was only thirty-one. I was in the coffee shop carrying a pinwheel when he galloped in. He was wearing a carrot-orange sundress, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his eyebrow, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the Starbucks, I learned that his name was Raúl, and that he was a bus driver. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a journalist.

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