THE CENTER OF MY UNIVERSE

I awakened to find it was late in the morning, and I assumed Blythe had done likewise.  Not so.  I showered, shaved, (my face!), and put on my Bermuda shorts, racey tee shirt, and my tennis shoes.  I found her buzzing around her kitchen; she turned and said "Good Morning sleepy head, how did you rest?"  I told her I felt like a million dollars and asked "How do you feel and why are you up working so early?"   " I feel like a wonder woman who can throw you out of bed anyday."  We hugged and kissed abit.  "Here, lets have coffee out on my back porch"  She poured the coffee and we went out onto the porch as she called it.  It was actually a grand veranda with large, rough cut beams going from house to the outer support beam about ten feet from the house.  The beams were covered in fig vines and the view out the back was a panorama of beauty.  Flowering shrubs, a few trees, and a magnificent pond with a fountain.  I was speechless.  "Blythe, this is so beautiful..it must be a full time job keeping it up."   "Yes, I can't do it..I have a gardner and this is almost his full time job"   She must have felt I was dying for some information, which I was....not nosey curiosity..but just the story behind it.  She is so sensitive...at the right moments, she saves me from asking.  "As I told you, I am an only child.  My Father was a gourmet chef and worked for several fine restaurants.  He did so well, he opened his own Restaurant, The Embers, and that is where he did very well.  His success allowed Mom and Dad to live very well...me too.  I had an ideal, story-book childhood.  My parents had an ideal marriage...they loved each other so much...never did I see them argue.  They were able to send me to Stanford where I earned a Masters in Journalism.  I don't have to work, but I choose to as I love my profession. It keeps me busy and out of trouble."  I had to smile at that one !  She continued: " I have never yearned for anything except for one....someone to love....now I am frustrated because I no longer want a thing!"  I replied: "Blythe, I must tell you, I am worried I might not be good enough for you, I am afraid I might dis-appoint you."   She said: "You would dis-appoint me if you became anything other than you are...I am faulty as I demonstrated when I showed you how far I could pee....that was crude...but I enjoyed it."   I said :  But Blythe...it  was so honest and child like..it was onery..."  We went back into the house and sat at her kitchen table;  she had prepared Eggs Benedict.  I said "Now I know where you got your cullinery skills, your Father"   "Yes, he had something to do with it"  After breakfast and another cup of coffee, I asked her if she was ready to go shopping.  "Yes I am"  I loved her 1948 Pontiac...and away we went......(to be continued)