Writing is a Good Thing

We're a writer, it's what we do. It is both a vocation and an avocation. It's paid our bills for more than 20 years and given us untold enjoyment since childhood - hopefully, you enjoy it too. Most of what we've gotten or become in our omnipotent life are the result of writing. In addition to paying the bills, writing is also responsible for the pairing of Poobah and Mrs. Poobah.

Our romance began in 1984 while the Poobah attended trade school in Miami. The future Mrs. Poobah lived in Portland, ME. A mutual friend said she was tired of hearing Miss Poobah complain about her love life, so she gave the Poobah her address and told him to write.

And, write we did.

We wrote our first missive next to the hotel pool with a drink in hand and the sun shining on us. While we no longer remember many of the specifics of that letter, we do remember a passage about how, at 28, our chest hair was turning grey. We can only assume the rest of the letter went uphill from there, because she actually decided to write back.

The letters began to flow - first weekly, then daily. Soon, they were up to several a day and the content was subtly changing from mere observations on life to subjects more romantic. There were regular long letters (ours always typed because of our inability to write legibly) and hers always written in a neat hand. There were postcards - many of them handmade collages - the better to impress her with our talent.

As the letters continued, a call came to us from Maine one Sunday afternoon. Fortified with a few drinks, the future Mrs. Poobah had decided to jump in with both feet and call. It was during that four-hour call that she invited herself to come visit us in Virginia (where we had recently moved) on the way back from a few days in San Francisco.

We met in person for the first time in Norfolk International Airport and instantly decided that the letters were really our courtship and we were in love. When she returned to Maine, the letters continued with more telephone calls worked into the mix. That led to several visits from the Poobah and a final decision to move the future Mrs. Poobah to Virginia for a few months of getting to know you before finally marrying a few months later. Through it all, we continued to write in a way we have written since.

We've been together ever since and we're still writing about her. As we said, all good things that have happened to us flowed from writing.

Truth Told by Omnipotent Poobah, Tuesday, April 04, 2006