THE DAY WE MET

I close my eyes and remember every detail. There he was. Tall. Long hair. Black, riveting, demanding, eyes. So handsome. Holding his guitar.

My friend Janet had planned to introduce Ashton to a friend of hers. I persauded her to introduce us instead.

I was nervous. So nervous. I had just come out of a relationship turned horrible. I had sworn off men. Who needed them? Not me. Still, meeting someone new might make me feel better. A night out at Janet's house would be fun. Besides, he played the guitar. My passion. I also played guitar.

He stunned me when I walked in the door.

Janet introduced us and... left the living room for the entire night. There we were, alone, staring at each other -- the guitars the only thing we had in common at that moment. But I knew....

We stayed up until four in the morning. Playing guitar. Staring at each other. Loving every moment. Loving each other, but we didn't know it then.

He came to my apartment the next evening. Food as an offering. The biggest turkey legs I've ever seen. Wild Rice. The night spent talking and dancing -- discovering each other. We both loved the country. He was living in the Virginia foothills by himself, in an old bread van turned camper. He called it the "Green Apple". No need for a house or an apartment when it was just Ashton and his dog Fubar. Interesting, I thought. And then we discovered we loved the same things, disliked the same things. We fell in love that night. Orleans "Dance with Me" always reminds me of the night Ashton and I met. And I was quick to tell him that whenever we heard it on the radio. And he said Billy Joel's "Just the way you Are" always reminded him of me. Neither of us did change. And we kept on dancing.

He came over every day for two weeks after that. We couldn't bear to say good-bye. He was the gentlest man I had ever met. Attentive. Sweet. Protective. He loved children. He loved my child. And he moved in. Two months later we were married.

Our mutual friends were surprised that it happened so fast, but they all knew it would last. We knew it would last. Sometimes you just "know". You know when you've met your soul mate.

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Barber: Dance with Me