Treading Water With Jordan

I first met him when I was only sixty-one. I was in the police station carrying a billiard ball when he flew in. He was wearing an aquamarine bowler hat, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his ankle, but I pretended not to notice.

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

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

At the pizza joint, I learned that his name was Jordan, and that he was a jazz musician. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a flutist.

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