Adventures in the Green Van — V

Eight and a Half Weeks

As the winter of 1976 wore on, the owner of the green van was still in Portugal so the vehicle of destiny remained under my command.

Because I had the van I had been recruited to help a friend move his lady-friend to a new apartment. It would be an easy move, he said, she didn’t have a ton of stuff and it was only a couple of blocks between her old place and the new one. On a bright and frosty Saturday morning in February I picked up him up and we drove over to the old place. It was on a second floor (boo!) but she was well organized and everything was packed and ready to go (yay!) I was taking down my first box when, on a landing leading up to the apartment, I looked down and saw the most beautiful woman in the world (instantly forgetting about the one I had met the previous week).

It was love at first sight.

We struck it off and, after the move was finished, while were eating pizza in the new apartment, we talked. And talked. For hours. The next day she came over to my place and we took things to another level.

Eight and a half weeks later we got married.

We still are.

And it was all because of the green van!