This was originally posted by Janice & Kathy on the community forum.
I had a brief conversation with Brewmax and decided to try to tell this story. My usual line is “I can only tell this story after a couple of drinks and with an audience” so grab a beer or a glass of wine and get comfortable. This is NOT a short story.
In 1992, I moved to a really small town near here named Shandon for economic reasons. The “now entering” sign said population 500 but I think it lied. On Sunday mornings, I would walk the 3 blocks from one end of town to the other to have breakfast at the café. Now this “café” had 3 booths, 2 tables and a six-seat counter. I had lived alone for 10 years so that didn’t bother me but being unemployed, living alone and not knowing anyone within 20 miles and few within 300, it got a little quiet. I liked to go hear the local ranchers and their wives swap gossip on Sunday mornings after they had been to church.
I was sitting at a table when the door opened. I glanced up enough to catch the boots out of the corner of my eye. Then my eyes continued all the way up that (now famous) 38” inseam and if that weren’t enough, those blue eyes at the top had me hooked from the get-go. Then I saw the 3 year old come in behind her…. Oh well. We spoke briefly because she had her dog in the truck out front and I had the same kind of dogs (aussie’s). But that was the end of that.
A couple of weeks later I was talking to a Shandon boy in Kmart in Paso Robles, lamenting that I needed someone to mow my lawn. And from behind me in line comes this little voice “I do lawns”. I turned around and THERE SHE WAS! I knew instantly that it was the woman from the café; I never forget legs like that! The only short part of this story is that she started doing my lawn and other odd jobs for me and we became friends. I told her I was gay very early, as I didn’t want it to be an issue later.
Now we ALL get little crushes. We play with them in our head for a little while and then let them go and move on. The problem was, I couldn’t seem to get her out of my head. I knew it wasn’t healthy. She was straight and married. I never let on how I felt but I just couldn’t seem to let it go. It never occurred to me that she might have any feelings for me.
We had been friends for about a year and a half when I asked her offhand if she wanted to run a mundane errand with me the next day. I had to drive 2 hours south for a ½ hour errand. She very quickly said yes. Cool. We finished the errand and decided neither one of us wanted to go home yet. So we started up the coast.
First she took me to Montana de Oro, a beach she used to go to when she was at Cal Poly. One of those beautiful beaches with the forest almost to the water's edge, lots of rock formations and a stream flowing out into the ocean right in the middle of the beach. When she reached out her hand and helped me across the stream I almost swooned.
We continued north to my favorite spot, Moonstone beach. A sheer cliff with crashing waves and tide pools at the bottom and a footpath with large Monterey pines at the top. Now on any given day you might see a whale or sea otter or maybe a dolphin or pelican. But on THAT day, they all came out to play for us. At every turn we saw a new breathtaking site. And at every turn, she would stand closer and closer to me. I could SMELL her. To this day, the smell of a clean white t-shirt makes me a little nuts.
She would move closer, I would move away. I would lean down to look in the tide pool, she would come over RIGHT next to me to get a closer look. In hind site, I should have realized what was happening but I was in such huge denial that all I could do was bite my tongue and keep moving. It was such an amazing day. So many sights and sounds and smells...
It started to get dark and a little cold so we ducked into a little English style pub in Cambria for a little warmth and a little wine. Next thing we knew it was 9 o'clock. Shit! she said. So she called home to let him know she was on her way. When she came back from the phone, she was visibly shaken. One of her goats had gone into labor and it had gone badly. We went out and got into the car. She was very upset and started to cry. I assured her that it wouldn't have mattered if she had been there or not. And I opened up my arms for (and I assure you, my intentions were COMPLETELY honorable!) a comforting hug. She immediately snuggled in.
Now my brain just about exploded. I tried to pull back and she snuggled in closer! I tried to pull back again and she snuggled in again! THREE TIMES I tried to pull back (by now, I was starting to get a clue!) I looked down...she looked up...my brain said "kiss her!", and it answered itself "NOOOOO", again my brain said "kiss her!" and again it screamed back "NOOOOO" at this point I was sure that it was so loud it was leaking out of my ears. but when my brain said for the third time "KISS HER" I leaned down, kissed her and almost fainted when she kissed me back! and there we were, kissing in the car, on Main Street in Cambria for 45 minutes!
The logistics took a few months but we have essentially been together ever since! That was April 16, 1994. Twelve years. Since then we have been thru financial hardship, health crisis, lived in poorer than camping conditions for 16 months. And thru it all, all she has to do is look at me with those baby blues and I still melt.
Ok, now let’s hear yours!
:D