Two Lovers from Friends

If you ask me I could write a book

About the way you walk and whisper and look

I could write a preface on how we met

So the world would never forget

And the simple secret of the plot

Is just to tell them I love you a lot

Then the world discovers as my book ends

How to make two lovers of friends

                                                  - Lorenz Hart

Mr. Rip and I celebrated ten years of wedded bliss on Friday, and when I say bliss, I do mean bliss.  It is hard to imagine a relationship that is emotionally healthier and more satisfying than ours, and we make each other laugh every day.  We're just a couple of happy clams, we are.

When we reflect back on our story, it is not surprising that we are still happily married ten years later.  We are, after all, absolutely perfect together.  The real miracle is that we ever got together in the first place.

We were a couple of middle-aged odd ducks when we met doing community theater.  Neither one of us was exactly looking for a relationship because neither of us was available at the time. We became "show buddies," friendly when we were working on the same show, but not really in touch otherwise.

I liked him. He was nice to me and he laughed at my jokes, which is pretty much all you need to do to win me over as a friend for life.  He was also funny and smart and interesting.

Much later, when we were both available, we actually started to see each other on purpose in settings outside the hallowed halls of the theater, but just as friends. We became great friends. We liked to do all the same things, and we just enjoyed being together.

I was falling for him.  But taking it to the next step was trickier. You might say we both had "baggage" by that time in our lives; Mr. Rip says we were both carrying a full set of Tourister luggage.

History had taught me that falling for a friend was fraught with the potential danger of losing a perfectly good friend, so I wasn't bringing up the subject.  Instead, I tried to look for clues in things that he said that might suggest he might be leaning in that direction as well.

The only problem was that I never did have a knack for that sort of thing.  I have absolutely no feminine wiles.  I also was born without a flirtation device, so I can't tell when someone is flirting with me.  One time he told me that I was a "nice lady."  Hmm... was that flirting?  Or did he just think I was a nice lady?  Boy, this stuff didn't really get any easier with age, did it?

One day he asked me that fateful question.  "Are we dating?" A few hours later, we decided the answer was a resounding yes and we never looked back.  As a bonus, we didn't see why this had to interfere with our friendship, so we're still best friends.

The real evidence that we are soul mates meant to be together is that I am convinced that I'm the lucky one because he loves me and he believes that he's the lucky one because I love him.   Maybe the truth is that we're both pretty lucky.

Oh, and we unpacked the baggage a long time ago.