Backing Down With Faye

I first met her when I was only twenty-three. I was in the flower shop carrying a pillow when she galumphed in. She was wearing a forest green surgical mask, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated her brain, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the pub, I learned that her name was Faye, and that she was a flight mechanic. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a zookeeper.

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