Five years of marriage, and I've managed to fall in love with Gail more with each passing day. Now, I know that marriages have a tendency to fall apart; in 5 years, we've had our share of difficulties. But I want to make sure that when it does end – if it does -- we'll be able to look over each day and say we lived it to the fullest.
But right now, I had to find Gail a gift for our fifth anniversary. For all my blabbering about living life to its fullest, it took my secretary to remind me of our anniversary. I decided to take the afternoon off from work and raid the local mall. It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon; I was hoping the mall would be empty. As I plowed the rain soaked streets, I passed in front of Gail's flower shop. I slowed a bit, and noticed the 'back in an hour' sign. Strange. I came to the parking lot for the mall and pulled in near the entrance. I was right about Tuesday being a slow day – half the parking lot was empty. I braved the downpour, dashed for the entrance, and set my mind on picking up CDs from Al Jarreau and Luther Vandross.
I saw Gail in the shopping mall. She went from window to window, unsure of her next purchase. I followed her from afar -- this was the reason the shop was closed. I snickered when I realized I wasn't the only one with a faulty memory. Finally, she walked into a lingerie store. There was nothing I liked more than to see her body wrapped up in something soft and frilly I could remove to get to the good parts.
People rushed by, ignoring me as I watched while she browsed through the different displays, rummaging the items. She would pick something up, press it to her ample chest, then put it back in the rack. Gail stood about 5'5" and I was so blessed that she wasn't Ally Mcbeal thin – she had a body that reminisced the pin-ups of the forties and fifties. She would have stood proudly next to Rita Hayworth and Marilyn Monroe on the side of a B-17 bomber flying over an Axis powers target.
She finally found a matching set of blue silk panties and bra. Gail brushed her shoulder length brown hair aside when a saleswoman indicated where she could try the lingerie on. I ducked behind a stand selling cell phones and watched as she walk in front of the boutique's entrance and headed for the change area. Gail slipped into a change room. The young man working the stand suddenly realized my presence but I dashed past him and approached the boutique. As Gail slipped behind the change room's curtain, I went into the store. The saleswoman who helped her glanced at me suspiciously, but I calmed her fears when I told her I'm the husband of the woman who picked up lingerie.
