Bereavement

Even then, both of us had hectic schedules, and mine got even crazier when I was recruited for my job, which I still have (somewhat fancier title and pay grade by now—my starting salary was $15,000 a year). We probably never would have found the time to get married if my brother hadn’t invited us to our wedding. That is not a typo, either. We got married 8 years after we met. Since after 8 years, it was clear that we were going to stay together, we consider our real anniversary to be that fortunate day in July, 1974.

I was chatting to a young woman on a long bench in a dark, smoky cabaret in West Berlin. She told me she was leaving for China the next day, but I should meet her friend from up north. I said sure, where is she? She said, “right here,” and leaned back. I was left momentarily breathless with the beautiful vision I saw, and thought, oh yes, I should definitely meet your friend from up north.