Meeting the Love of My Life - Part 1

I met the love of my life, Sean, at our former workplace, where I was a chemist/safety officer and he was an architect. Of course, as in the story books, I knew the moment I saw him walking by in a three piece suit that he was the “one” for me, but don’t ask me how. It was kismet. I was terrified. I had a couple of boyfriends at the time, and all I could think was, “Wow, I guess my single life is over.” We were formally introduced and my job was to give him a tour of the new wing we had just completed, so that he could do the signage. I had assisted in assuring that we met the fire codes in terms of fire extinguisher placement and lab safety. When we got to the industrial hygiene lab, there was a mannequin with a sampling tube taped to her nose in front of a chemical hood for hood testing. She was naked under her white lab coat, had a red wig, and we called her Elvira. He took one look and said “Do they rent her out on weekends?” And I thought, “I gotta get this guy.”

I sent one of my male spies to find out if he was available, which he was. He had one girlfriend, and we could deal with that, no problem.

We didn’t date for six months. My dad came to visit and I introduced him to almost every one at our smallish company. Afterwards I asked my Dad if he remembered Sean, and Dad said that he didn’t. So I reminded him and said that he was going to see a lot of Sean in the future since I would marry him. Dad asked if we were dating and I replied that we were not. Dad gave me a dubious look.

Pretty much all of the younger people at the company used to go to Johnny Appleseeds (a local restaurant chain) for happy hour on Fridays. Everyone was checking with me leading up to that afternoon to make sure I was going. When I showed up at the restaurant after five, no one was there except for the Sean. We waited for others, who never showed, and then decided to have dinner. That was our first date. Sean swore that he did not know about the set up. You should have seen everyone’s faces when I came into work on Monday asking how my happy hour was and then winking. I guess they just got fed up with us not getting together. When all of this happened, I had given up on finding the “one” and had stopped looking. It took 3 years for me to convince him that it was kismet and we should get married. Some people are just really slow.

Anyhow, it is great when we go to parties, because I can stand in the background and let him do the talking and only pipe up when I have something funny or clever to say. Being a loner at heart, I have learned to socialize at business functions through work, but then I was paid for that. I like talking to people one-on-one. That I can handle.

Yes, I have told him and others that I knew the instant I laid eyes on him. Many folks have asked me how I knew, and I don’t know how I knew. But I knew with a glance; in an instant. We have been married for over 20 years.

Did I mention that Sean repairs my car?