I first spotted my lovely wife in the library at SFU in the fall of 1965 but didn't really summon the nerve to ask her on a date until after New Years in 1966. In my defense, the fall was terribly hectic anyway. Making the naive transition from high school to university was an eye-opening experience and then my fall was spent playing football as my tuition was paid by an athletic scholarship. I didn't have much time for anything else until after the season.
I had of course noticed Betty right away bustling about our study area in the library. Short skirt, long legs, effervescent personality - certainly caught my attention. When I first engineered a meeting, under some pretext, it was starting to verge on stalking as I just couldn't think of a smooth way to do it. I drove a '56 Consul, so a pick up in a hot car was out of the question. Did she even follow football? She was seen hanging about with another football player. Hmmm.
Some of the more mature ball players, who had gone to other universities, had rented a heritage house near Deer Lake in Burnaby to serve as a fraternity house so a natural first date was to one of their dances. Betty wore a short, sleeveless dress of a turquoisy satiny material. Yowser. I've forgotten what I wore but no doubt I was blinded by my date. And I still am.
Quite a few dates and years followed before we were married and raised kids and did all those things that make successful families. Through it all my date continued to smile and tickle my funny bone. Now she is turning 65 and we increasingly wonder where the years have gone. We have weathered a bit on the outside but we still laugh at each others jokes and bicker about stupid things, but I still see that young girl that I spotted in the library. Every day in the intervening years I have been thankful that this beautiful, bright and funny woman chose me to hang out with. I love you Betty. Happy Birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment