Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The walk from Santa Monica to Brentwood

I got on the bus, and I recognized him. He patted the seat next to him with what I like to remember as a lecherous smile. (It was really just a friendly smile.)

We were in graduate school together, and had only exchanged a sentence or two. On the bus ride I learned that he lived in Santa Monica. (I lived in Brentwood.) He liked to ride his bike to the beach for a break from studying. Not my type, but he'd make a really nice friend.

He got off the bus before me, but it was only one stop before. I started walking to his stop in the mornings, hoping we might have the same schedule. I started riding my bike to the beach after classes, hoping to find myself riding along next to him.

He lived in Santa Monica; I lived in Brentwood--we lived a block apart. It was more a matter of perception than city limits.  I never ran into him biking--it turned out he had hurt his knee and didn't bike for awhile. But I did catch him at his bus stop from time to time. He finally asked me out, after a long wait of a week or so.

He started moving in, about 6 weeks after our first date, one paper shopping bag at a time, walking the block from Santa Monica to Brentwood. That was 1978. We're still living together.

Sometimes the guys you meet on buses are keepers.

6 comments:

  1. Sweet. I didn't know this is how you two met.

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  2. What you don't say is that I was living with another woman at the time. Essentially, you wrecked our home.

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  3. I love to think about you getting all spiffed up to ride your bike, hoping to "coincidentally" see him.

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  4. I put on my "make-out" tee shirt, the one with the hang ten feet on it. It always worked, especially when combined with Tabu perfume.

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