Mine was a birthday present. I came off a long stint on a forest fire the day before my birthday 29 years ago. For my birthday I went out alone, all my friends were off fighting other fires, had a nice steak dinner and went in the lounge to listen to some country music and dance a little. I was drinking coffee because I expected to get called out again for another fire. Etta and her friend were there drinking coke and dancing. The guy who kept asking her to dance was a clumsy oaf and pretty well in the bag. I beat him to the punch on the next song and got her out on the dance floor. We spent the rest of the night dancing and talking. Her friend told her to "get his number, he seems healthy." We exchanged numbers. I halfway expected it to be a bogus number but resolved to call her Wednesday and ask her out. She called me on Tuesday. We've been together since that day. And still like each other.
