I found myself a dinosaur

I found myself a Dinosaur

It all happened nearly twelve months ago as I was walking through the
woods, My life
was still a mess after Rob had walked out on me to shack up with his
pretty little "Legs up
to her armpits" Jezebel of a petrol attendant. I, of course had ten
years, two stone, three
kids and a pimple on her. Why does life DO that? At thirty five I felt
old, well worn, and
discarded. My eyes had sagged, My bum had drooped, and well, my boobs
were rapidly
heading for southern counties.

As I walked through the woods that day with my dog Kai, I was
ruminating, on what
had caused the collapse of our relationship, afterall if Rob had been a
blissfully happy
married man, Venus herself couldn't have turned his head, never mind
some bleached
blonde petrol seller, with a penchant for micro mini skirts. Rob was
six years my
junior,maybe he had just been too young to settle down. With hindsight
and a post
mortem of our life, I can see that he had always been restless,
begrudging the fact that he
was a husband and father with responsibilities that had to be met,
before he could go
swanning off to the Pub with his mates. Though wasn't his youthful
exuberance one of the
things that I loved about him? That little boy lost look when we got
into a confrontation
over money. His excited rambling, when he had one of his "Get Rich
Quick" schemes that
always fizzled and died when he was struck by the next one.

By the end of our marriage, our lives were cluttered by a half written
novel, a half
restored classic car, A half built greenhouse (For the market garden)
and 63 demijohns
filled with some green and festering liquid that was going to be the
"Vin de Harrison".
He had the first three Bat man comics ever, the first set of football
stickers ever, and the
first divorce in the Harrison family...ever.

I was missing him, but now I can see, that I was missing him in the
way that I would miss
Billy, our eldest, if he ever went off to college. I missed his
enthusiasm, I missed tidying
up after him, I missed being needed by him.

I looked up from my self indulgent depression; and he was there. The
dinosaur. He was
sitting on a tree stump in front of me, looking for all the world like
half a mountain. I
smiled at him and said "Hello". People did that in the woods. Even if
he was a dinosaur, it
was perfectly all right to say hello. It was a "dog thing", most of the
People who walk in
the woods are dog owners, that in itself affiliates them, and makes
them all part of a big
free club. He raised his hand, smiled and said "Hi".

At that moment fate decided to take a hand, I would have walked
straight passed him,
had not his hippopotamus of a dog come hurtling along the path towards
me in some
madly exciting, chase game, followed closely by Kai, with his tongue
hanging out, and
spittle flying in all directions. There was no escape. Hhis whopping
great beast of a Bull
Mastiff was almost upon me still in full flight, he caught me at the
back of my knees,
sending me sprawling across the path, with my legs akimbo, and my mouth
agape. Kai was
close on the dogs tail, grinning all over his stupid face. He lept over
me with an excited
Yelp which could well have been "Mother what are you doing, lying on
the floor like that,
come on, get out of the way, I'm gaining on him"
The dinosaur was at my side in an instant, his face full of concern.
He helped me to my
feet, apologizing all the time. My face was as red as some of the
autumn leaves that were
still clinging here and there to the trees. I was trying to muster as
much dignity as I could
as I assured him that I wasn't hurt. At that second the hooligans
reappeared, this time Kai
in the Lead, and The Mastiff barking happily at him to slow down. The
dinosaur moved
like Lightening, and before I had the chance to protest I found myself
surrounded by a
huge arm, and was being pulled off the path to safety. By this time we
were both in
hysterics at the dogs antics, and couldn't move for laughing, though I
was tremendously
aware that his arm was still wrapped securely around my waist to save
me from
overbalancing.

Sadly at this point he removed said arm, in order to hold the hand out
for me to shake.
"Well" He said still laughing, "If you've quite finished flinging
yourself into my arms,
perhaps we ought to introduce ourselves,as, it appears our dogs have
already done so. I'm
Dave pleased to meet you"

Once again I felt my cheeks beginning to burn. The arrogance of the
Man, I was just
about to retaliate with a cutting retort when I looked up and caught
the twinkle in his eye,
and again we started laughing.

I introduced myself, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world
to fall in step as
we began walking down the path, afterall we were both headed in the
same direction. We
talked dogs, and we were each introduced, to the others trouble
maker.

When we came to an intersection in the paths it seemed a parting of the
ways was
inevitable. Kai and I, as was our custom, were heading off on the cross
path to the Pond,
where we usually sat for a few minutes looking at the water, one of us
occasionally swam
in it, though even He, wasn't that stupid in November. Dave hesitated
it was clear that he
had intended to go straight on, and back to the car park. It seemed the
"Boys" had other
ideas, and went hurtling off along the path towards the Pond. Suddenly
we heard an
almighty splash, followed by a chorus of rowdy barking. We both set off
at a run, it was
afterall late November and the water would be cold at this time of
year. Although the
weather itself was inclement, occasionally the rain let up, the sun
shone, and it was fresh,
just right in fact for walking in the woods.

We got to the Pond in time to see, Blitz, Dave's Mastiff, climb onto
the bank ..he ran
towards us, stopped and then ... Shook!

Once again Daves arm magically appeared around me, only this time he
pulled me
firmly into his chest, and swiveled us both round so that all the muddy
Pond water hit his
back. I was very loath to move from this extremely comfortable
position, He smelled
wonderfully of Opium for Men, and Snuggling into his rust coloured,
knitted Jumper was
a lovely place to be. We Laughed a lot that day. As we have laughed
every day since.
The dogs once again tore off, Mastiff chasing Rhodesian Ridgeback,
Ridgeback chasing
Mastiff, and we found ourselves sitting on a bench at the water edge
looking onto the
calm murky water. it was beautiful there.

When ever the opportunity arose I stole a look at Dave, the more I
looked the more I
liked. He had deep clear grey eyes, that crinkled at the corners, The
crinkles became a
valley of creases when he smiled. He had a thick, full head of, dark,
hair, It looked soft,
and almost begged to be twiddled, it curled boyishly into the neck of
his Jumper. Just the
bits above his ears were peppered with eye matching grey, it was very
attractive. He was
big, six foot two, and very broad, he looked after himself, His Jumper
fit where it touched
and it was obvious there was no spare fat on him, unusual for a man of
his age. Hmmm his
age. How old was this Dinosaur that I found myself so very attracted
to? He turned out to
be forty seven, twelve years older than myself.

That was the start of the best twelve months of my life, today I'm
sitting alone, on
"our" bench at the Pond, reflecting. Dave and I are getting married at
twelve o clock
tomorrow. The biggest problem we foresee in our future, is how on earth
we are going to
keep our two dogs, under control, not to mention my three kids, and his
two. On visiting
weekends. when we all get together, the place becomes a madhouse, kids
and dogs
everywhere, but we wouldn't change a thing.

Oh the difference those few years make? Yes they do matter. I love his
wisdom, his
maturity. His knack for knowing just what to say,and when to say it. I
love to be
supported, rather than always having to be the support. I love my
dinosaur. whoever it
was who said that age is only a number, was a very wise old owl.