I first met him when I was only twenty-seven. I was in the health food store carrying a tote bag when he marched in. He was wearing a camouflage bra, which caught my attention right away. It really accentuated his pancreas, but I pretended not to notice.
I was about to set the tote bag down when he reeled beside me. I guess he startled me, and I clumsily dropped the tote bag right by his feet. We both bent over to pick it up. It was one of those awkward moments, and we both began to stretch.
After stumbling apologies, he asked me to go to the pizza joint for a Moscow mule. 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 Clive, and that he was a travel agent. This was fascinating to me, coming from my career as a kindergarten teacher.
I guess it was love at first stretch. Some might say we had paintings in our eyes, but we felt we were perfect for each other. He was nine years older than I, but the age difference didn't matter to us. Even today, we are still stretching for each other.