Marlboro Man

In October 1987, a friend of mine was leaving for two years in the Peace Corps and we gathered on a Friday afternoon to say goodbye to Bruce. Eight of us were friends from church and Max was the ninth guest. Someone took a picture of us all in the kitchen with Bruce holding a silly farewell cake. I am behind his right arm and Max is behind his left shoulder. The next month, I was dropping off my big coffee maker at a friend’s house for her to use in the morning after her son’s baptism. I planned to hang out and visit before heading to a speaker meeting. However, the tension in the house was pretty intense so I didn’t stay. I arrived at the meeting while they were still setting up and I saw my sponsor walk in. Apparently she was scheduled to lead the meeting, but was feeling a bit fatigued so she subbed me in. It’s an easy format to follow, but you are sitting up near the podium looking out on the crowd. During the speaker’s story, I looked around and caught sight of Max in addition to many friends. He thought I must be someone important to be leading this meeting when in reality I had a mere eight months. After the meeting, when we were all stacking chairs and cleaning up, Max asked if he knew me from another meeting. No, I met you at Bruce’s going away party. Shortly after that, we started dating and were married in October 1989. It was the second marriage for both of us and he met most all the items on my list: employed, no children, his own hobbies/interest but a cigarette smoker. He became a non smoker on January 1, 1990 because I was pregnant with our daughter. Today, I’ll still cast my lot with Max as we grow old together.

— KathyV