[dillywho]

We met in the cafeteria line at the plant where we both worked. My youngest son was about to depart for the Navy and I was telling my co-worker how hard it was to see the last one leave the nest. Bobby was right behind me, reached out, patted my shoulder and said, "It'll be ok, little mama". When my friend and I got to our table, I asked her, "Who the *&** was that?" She said, "Oh, that's Bobby...the guy who owns the bus company." “So THAT’S who that is!” I had heard of him for years, but until that day had no idea who he was. (Bobby and another guy had gone in together several years before, bought some buses and operated a park&ride service to the plant, some 25 miles from town.) I lived just outside of town, not far from the plant, and so had never ridden the bus.

Right after that, I married the guy I was dating and he married the lady he was dating. We later moved into town, ironically just a few blocks from Bobby. After moving into town, I decided to try the bus. The very first morning, just as I pulled up behind the bus and parked, he pulled out before I could get to the door of the bus. There I stood. Not good...on his part.

Later, Bobby and his wife went their separate ways. We had become good friends on the bus when I became the first passenger on and the last passenger off. There was a guy at work who would bring homemade burritos every morning and they went fast. Bobby was never able to get inside in time to get one by the time he made his last stop, parked the bus, and got inside. He told me one morning that he would buy for both of us, if I would get him one. His office was just down the hall from mine and I would call down and tell the girls to "Tell Bobby that his breakfast is ready." every morning after that and we would meet in the hallway halfway between our offices. We took turns buying.

Soon, I started fixing him up with my single girlfriends. When my mother was dying, my spouse could not see beyond himself to even come to the hospital, hospice, or offer any other support. Bobby checked on her everyday and didn’t even know her. Needless to say, Mr. Important and I parted ways.

Not long after my mom died, I was suggesting another friend to Bobby and he stopped me mid-sentence to tell me that I was the one he wanted to date. That was 22 years ago. We got married in the church parlor after church one Sunday morning after he finished driving the church bus. (That’s another story.)

And, as they say, the rest is history. He’s still my best friend and always will be.