Today is my Anniversary!

We've been together for 20 years now.

When I first saw him, he was just another guy in a world full of them. I've never had much hope for the male of our species and I won't go into why just yet. Hubby was different. He didn't look at me like I'd go well on a platter. He has this magnificent smile that poured into me like cool water on a hot day and I was just coming out of the desert. I drank in the sight of him.

He worked at the neighborhood gas station on a stretch of road not more than a wayside, hemmed in by the highway off ramp at one end and an on ramp at the other running parallel to this same highway. The 25 mile speed limit drove you past the bar on the corner to the left, the fruit cannery took up a couple of blocks on the right, an office building and a vet clinic back on the left, small mom and pop businesses lead up to the gas station on the right. Further down was the health clinic and finally the grocery store then your back on the highway on your way to the coast. His job as a mechanic and gas jocky, made him accessible to random observation and the more I saw the more I wanted him. I loved his friendly easy going nature, he smiled at everyone, and when he laughed I could see it all in his eyes. It didn't feel like he could hide anything. That's what I wanted; no lies. And I suppose it didn't hurt that he rode a motorcycle, had sun bleached shagy blond hair just over his ears, and beautiful blue eyes.

Now I was bold, but not enough to ask him out. I was only 17. So instead I just made myself available. I got gas everyday for weeks. .20 cents here, .43 cents there, very rarely over a dollar. He must have been locked away inside himself to take so long to notice. The day it dawned on him, he apparently had been goaded into asking me out by his boss. I pulled up in my brown ford pinto, hopped out and leaned against the door. He smiled that tingly smile of his and took the small change from my hand. He didn't stand close or look me up and down, just looked in my eyes. His glance toward the garage could have been him looking for fortification or an audience. His boss, a slight man with grease embedded in his creases, just stood there smiling, absently working a rag over his hands.

I still don't know what hubby thought of the whole thing.