Nancy with the Laughing Face: January 2013

There is a new woman in my life and that is what I call her.

Of course Sinatra made that phrase famous whenever he sang the beautiful Phil Silvers song. Although the tune was written with someone else in mind, Sinatra always said that he thought about his young daughter every time he sang it.

Now it's my turn to "sing" about this new Nancy and her beautiful, smiling face.

We became aware of each other's existence around Christmas. We were both enrolled in a senior dating website called "wrinklesareus.com" (ok, ok, it was ourtime.com). We started a very tentative email correspondence. I believe I fired the first shot by sending an email that went something like this:

Hello...you,

Do you like the excitement of skydiving out of an airplane over the ocean? Do you like the idea of speeding along an interstate at 125 mph? How about saddling a hyena and wildly romping across the veldt?

Neither do I. 

Mostly I enjoy sitting and eating fruit.  If that sounds appealing to you, please look over my profile and email me.

Now I will have an apricot.

Joel Getman
Miramar Beach

Thankfully, Nancy found my initial overture inspiring beyond words and took the time to read my humble profile. She was delighted to discover that I was on deck when Ted Williams hit his final home run, and was thrilled to learn that I was simultaneously a Temptation and the third Top. What intrigued her the most was my ownership of the state of New Mexico. (It's been in my family for years. I don't like to brag about it.) Thinking a week in Santa Fe doesn't sound too bad, she decided to take the plunge.

And thus began our binary romance.

There was no opportunity to actually meet one another because Nancy was away visiting her daughter and family in Georgia. More phone calls and emails were exchanged and something slowly became quite obvious: this woman is exactly what I've been looking for because she's exactly like me!

To quote the estimable Terrell Owens, I love me some me.

Then I had a terrible thought. What if she looks like me?

Happily we were able to meet face to face over dinner recently and I was thrilled to be able to gaze longingly at a lovely, funny, very sharp woman whose default mode is kindness and optimism.

Nancy is the kind of person who can't wait to see what's next. Like everyone else, she's had to overcome some of life's challenges, but has managed to come out on the other side of things with a beautiful smile and an upbeat, joyful approach.

She has a wealth of stories about her large (four siblings) Michigan family. Most of the time we have spent together has been dominated by one of us trying to outdo the other as far as family wackiness is concerned. We've already laughed more than two people have a right to, and I haven't even told her the one about Ada asking me, as we were passing a truckers' weigh station, "Wanna get weighed?"

My instant response: "Wuv to."

I should be able to win that battle at least.

Nancy is a little camera shy so I've substituted an alternate picture I took recently. Let the beauty of this photograph represent both Nancy's beauty and, especially, the beauty of having yet another wonderful woman (This makes me 3/3,  people!) with whom I hope to share life's ups and downs.

Ain't life grand?
j