Coming Along With Brooke

I first met her when I was only fifty-seven. I was in the grocery store carrying a Bible when she swaggered in. She was wearing a navy blue pair of shorts, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her gut, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the clothing store, I learned that her name was Brooke, and that she was a short order cook. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a dance instructor.

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