Our first date, love at first and last sight.

There I was at the Golden Nugget, raunchiest bar in town talking to my ex-brother-in-law and having a beer. We were watching all the ladies with mini skirts,make up, high heels and perfect hair dance in the dim, Smokey lights. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl come in with a brawny looking guy and I found myself smiling at her. It was a weird feeling, like she was the only other person there! I couldn't stop looking at her and it was driving me crazy. She was wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and suspenders. To me, every woman in the club disappeared but her. If she was fishing I was hooked!

I told my ex-brother-in-law, " watch me get my butt kicked because I am going to ask a girl to dance and she is with someone." He laughed and said, " I got your back." This behavior was totally out of character for me. This was the first time I would ever ask a girl to dance who I thought might be taken. We smiled at each other a few more times and finally she walked right by me. I tapped on her shoulder and ask her to dance the next good song with me. She smiled and said yes as I caught a gleam in her eyes and a sigh in my heart.

The song,"Sweet Child "O" Mine" by Guns and Roses started playing. We met on the dance floor and danced like we had been partners for years. Over the loud music, I shouted to her,"I hope the guy you are with doesn't get mad!". She shouted back,"He's my cousin!". Thoughts of thanking God a hundred times entered my mind. When the dance was over, we found a table and invited her cousin to sit with us. Even as I talked with her cousin, my eyes were glued to her. We stayed about another hour and her cousin let us know that he was ready to go home.

I offered to drive him home and I could bring her back to her car that was parked in the bar parking lot. We dropped her cousin off and began talking to each other about our families. I remember thinking how pretty she was as the street lights shined and faded on the highway. She told me that she had two small children, boy four and a girl five. We talked a little about our exes but mostly about ourselves and the children. On the way back we stopped at a truck stop for breakfast. She wasn't hungry but I was starving, she just had coffee

. Friday night had turned into Saturday morning. I asked her if she and her kids would like to go to the beach on Sunday. She told me that she had a reunion to go to. So I said " then how about today? " Being flustered,she reluctantly agreed. After a couple of hours of conversation and a gallon of coffee, I took her to her car. Just as she was about to get out I asked her for a kiss. She reluctantly gave me a kiss. I was in love and knew it, she was in love and about to know it. About seven hours later we were at the beach. We talked and played with the kids all day. After that day we were pretty much inseparable. We got married two months later. More than twenty years have gone by and I still catch her from the corner of my eye like I did that first night. I always look because it is her that I see. The world still disappears and it is only us, us dancing.