How We Met

Some of you are old enough to remember the first gulf war (well, technically, the second Gulf War, since the first was between Iran and Iraq, but you know what I mean).

Those of you that remember it, might also remember that for some time after the liberation of Kuwait, there was a huge push by the United States and other nations to find a lasting peace in the middle east between the various Arab states and Israel.

The large-scale peace talks that took place in Washington, DC, took place at the United States Department of State, where I was then employed as a security supervisor. I was the commander of the unit that did security for special events where senior diplomats and politicians would be on site. As you can imagine, the ministerial meetings that took place had VIP's in abundance... many of whom would speak to the press which were always corralled by the main entrance to the building.

The State Department press office, not wanting to ever get caught unawares, always kept a public affairs officer with the press in order to record any comments made y an arriving or departing dignitary. This is where our story begins.

One of my people, who was frequently posted in the front of the building, was... shall we say, less than stellar in the performance of his duties, needed frequent monitoring to make sure that he he was doing his job, instead of spending all of his time chatting up the pretty girls. Being his direct supervisor, that responsibility fell to me. On more than one occasion, I had to tell him to stop bothering the Press officer that was outside with the Press pool, since she seemed to be spending her down time quietly reading..

After having to talk to him a third time, I apologized to the press officer, and attractive woman, wearing a blue floral print dress. She smiled and said not to worry about it, as he wasn't being disrespectful or anything.

Well I would see this Press officer from time to time, in the lobby of the building and make small talk, with her, and after a while, instead of chatting whenever I would see her, I started looking for her intentionally.

When the Peace Talks were coming to a close, I asked her what she usually did with herself when she wasn't working, and she told me that she didn't usually do much, so I sad, oh-so-smoothly, that since I didn't do much either, maybe we could not do much together sometime. Yes, I know, it was kinda lame, and although she had to stifle a laugh, it worked.

We arranged to have our first date, the night before Thanksgiving, 1992.

She lived in Rosslyn (Va), and I lived on Captiol Hill, so I took the metro (Washington's subway) and she met me there... we walked to her apartment to kill some time before going to the movies (we were going to see Bram Stoker's Dracula), and it was pretty much over.

Her apartment walls were lined with bookshelves!

We shared a bottle of wine, then a second, while we talked about books.

We missed the first showing of the movie, and the second showing. We had a grand old time... by the time I made the move to leave, the metro had stopped running. Rather than send me off in a cab, this fine soul gave me a ride home... but not before we had our first kiss, standing next to her car.

I was done in. Right there, right then.

When she dropped me at my apartment, I went in and immediately called her at home and left a message on her machine... apparently, it was very romantic.

I got very little sleep that night.

You know that semi-sick to your stomach feeling you get with new love? I had that all day at work, and despite the fact that I was trying to be the gruff boss, one of my guys said: "Geez Lieutenant, what's up with you?, you've been grinning all morning, and I don't think that I have ever seen you smile"

Well... there isn't much else to say, other than that I married that nice lady in 1994. I knew that I would, from the first time I kissed her.

As I write this, she is suffering with a bit of a cold and is snoring napping away just down the hall... we are both starting to get gray now, but I still love her as much as I did on our first date.