Meeting a Mate

It amuses me
Listening to single people
Theorizing on the art
Of meeting a mate.
There are more strategies out there
For guys to meet girls
And girls to meet guys
Then there are
Grains of sand at the beach.
I never figured out
If there is a proper way
For two people to meet!
It always seemed
A curious accident,
An intriguing twist of fate,
Which had me meet
The people I met.
It was seldom, if ever,
Something planned.
I met Cecilia,
Who later became my wife,
While she was hitchhiking
With a friend
On the big island of Hawaii.
That may not be the way
People are supposed to meet,
But it worked!
I occasionally would ask
Other couples how they met,
And almost every couple
Has some kind of colorful story
About the chain of events
That brought them together.
Meeting the way we did
Did have its own set of hazards.
Whenever I saw
Another girl hitchhiking,
I couldn’t help commenting,
“I wonder what she is after!”
To which Cecilia
Could only glare.
Whenever we met
A new couple,
I would invariable ask
Them how they met,
Knowing full well,
They would return the favor.
Sometimes I would tell
People our story
Before they met Cecilia,
Then after they met her,
They would inevitably comment,
“You don’t look like
A hitchhiker!”
Which was sort of
A back handed compliment.
Cecilia was a good spirit
About my teasing,
And had her own ways
Of getting back at me.
The really bizarre thing is
That about five years
Before I met Cecilia,
I picked up another set
Of hitch hikers
In the exact same location
Where I met Cecilia,
And ended up sailing
To the South Pacific
With them.
I used to tease Cecilia,
Telling her if
She gave me any trouble,
I knew where
To go for a replacement.
I never went back,
And tried my luck again,
However!