Carrying On With Janice

I first met her when I was only thirty-four. I was in the barbershop carrying a model airplane when she waddled in. She was wearing a magenta pair of moccasins, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her thorax, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the ad agency, I learned that her name was Janice, and that she was a sixth grade teacher. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a songwriter.

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