Perhaps the single most wonderful experience, that this lifetime can afford us, is the opportunity for falling into Love. For many, love comes easy; while for others the path grows thorns… still others search a lifetime without finding it at all. I have been blessed to have had many loves in this lifetime and though my hair is now turning grey and my body struggles with every movement… I still desire to be a lover and to be loved.

I remember yet my first love, a girl I knew as Sue. She had just rescued me from being bitten by her giant Saint Bernard. I had taken the shortcut through her yard on many occasions and on each occasion her dog would come charging at me. Of course, he was chained and would have to stop just short of the pathway. Unaware that a new longer chain had been purchased, my confident stride came to an abrupt halt when suddenly I felt the dog’s jaws clamped tightly around my leg. I called for Sue and she yelled his name and immediately he let go… but I swear I heard him chuckling as he returned to his post.

Seeing that I was a bit shaken, she began wiping his saliva from my pants with the towel she held in her hand and I could feel my knees grow wobbly from the gentleness of her touch. We were both ten years old and had our parents allowed; I would have married her right there and then… but time would pass and, as often goes, my love began to fade… and now she’s nothing more than a memory on some earmarked page of life.