First phone call

After e-mailing back and forth at an increasingly feverish pace for a week and a half, we decided it was time for the first phone call. Back in 1990, I finished the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minn., in four hours. The 26-mile-plus race involved a half year of training. Our first phone call lasted nearly as long, 3 1/2 hours, and required even more intense training. For a year I had not dated and prepared for when this opportunity arose. I was not disappointed. Teri is easy to talk to. She's funny and intelligent. She makes me laugh and makes me think, a lot. Understand, I was not always so talkative. My late wife Tina, before she died an untimely death from complications of diabetes at age 48, used to joke that the first two months I knew her, back in 1983, I never said a word. I just nodded. I was the strong, silent type, and I don't mean strong smelling. Teri and I had built a foundation of trust through e-mails, but I still worried that my voice, or perhaps my laugh, would be a deal-breaker. Teri, though, helped me to relax, or at least not hyperventilate. From the beginning I felt as if I could share my hopes, dreams and silliness. It was a phone marathon to remember.