Backing Up With Armand

I first met him when I was only sixty-five. I was in the shoe store carrying a wrench when he zoomed in. He was wearing a terra cotta fedora, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his wig, but I pretended not to notice.

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

After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the perfumery 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 perfumery, I learned that his name was Armand, and that he was a meteorologist. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a student.

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