First Impressions

I was bored.  I didn’t have to work and there wasn’t anything interesting on TV.  Just as I was considering a dull night reading a book or finding someone to call  on the phone, it rang.  My friend Lori wanted to know if I would like to go bowling in the neighboring town with her and her boyfriend.  She explained Ronnie and his family bowled every Thursday night and she was tired of being the only girl there.  I didn’t really have much experience bowling, but better than staying home, right?

I had met her boyfriend and his brother Steve before.  I was introduced to his father Ron and his youngest brother Dan when we arrived.  You could certainly see the three brothers inherited their traits from Ron as they were all about 5’6″, thin, and, wore glasses.  I soon learned there was a fourth brother whom they expected later that night as he was working.  After several embarrassing attempts at trying to knock down those maddening 10 pins, I realized we had been joined by the other brother Joe.  He didn’t look anything like his brothers.  He was tall with very long legs, wide shoulders, muscular, and overall just big.  He wore a bright red outdated Carhartt coat, a pair of badly torn jeans, his hair was about 4 inches too long, and he was filthy!  He had an untrimmed beard and mustache that looked like it was coated with a thin dusting of flour.  I’m not a drinker so the amount of alcohol and the speed he was consuming it didn’t impress me much.  As a matter of fact his whole family could really down the liquor!

Apparently the men spent a lot of time at the  bowling alley as they knew everyone by name, were all excellent bowlers, and when the ball got stuck in the return, Joe nonchalantly walked behind the lanes and recovered the balls.  Their drinks were never empty and they seemed to bowl even better the more they drank.  Well, that’s great for them, but I was lobbing gutter ball one after the other.  The guys thought my bad bowling was hysterical, but Joe was trying very patiently to teach  me how to keep the ball on the lane.  He towered over me and I admit he made me feel very uncomfortable.  He was the perfect gentleman, guiding my arm back straight and showing me how to smoothly  roll the ball down the lane.  I was never so happy as when they decided to call it quits.  Maybe I should have stayed home and read that book after all.

On the way home Lori said “Joe really likes you”.  I remember thinking, what, no way!  My first impression of Joe was that he needed a shower, haircut, shave, and a new wardrobe.  Okay, he was nice to me when his brothers were all drunkenly laughing at my lack of bowling talent.  But Joe was definitely not my type.

I didn’t give him any  more thought until one night several months later when Lori and I were driving along and she said “There’s Joe and Steve”.  She pointed to a sporty black and silver Dodge Daytona parked at a gas station as she pulled in.  I remember saying “Where, I don’t see them”, as the men exited the car.  Looking again I recognized Steve, but I didn’t know the man with him, I figured she made a mistake.  But she said “No, that’s Joe”, I didn’t believe her.  This man had no beard, his mustache and hair was trimmed nicely, and he was wearing an appealing suit.  Couldn’t be Joe.  Amazingly, it was him, and he cleaned up nicely!  They had just attended the wedding and reception of a close friend.

That my friends is how I met my husband, but there’s more to the story of course.