Old couples are cute.

Case 1) Ramona and I were in Des Moines at the Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium to be guest pianists at the Iowa Prayer Breakfast. The day before, we played at the Governor’s Mansion and got to take photos with the Governor (Tom Vilsack at the time) and his wife, Christie. Regardless of politics, which I knew nothing about at the time, they were both so kind and I was enamored with them, feeling as if I met true celebrities.

The morning of the breakfast, we had to be at the auditorium by a freakishly early hour, 7 o’clock or something. We were bleary eyed and nervous. As we walked through the over-street covered walkway with our piano teacher, Susan See, we passed an elderly couple. They were both hobbled over from bad backs and the man had on a tie, the woman had on a slightly-outdated dress with a sweater. They were holding hands as they inched along.

Ramona and I couldn’t stop talking about it. At the time, though we were both early high school age, we kept talking about how we’re going to marry men who will grow old with us and hold our hand as we hobble around in our aged bodies.

I remember that old couple better than I remember the breakfast. I know we met several state representatives and senators, but I couldn’t tell you their names. Why? Because old couples in love make longer-lasting impressions.

Case 2) This morning, Kevin and I had breakfast at IHOP. In a booth across from us sat an elderly couple. What first caught my eye was that they were sitting on the same side of the booth. They used the empty bench to lay their coats. The woman got chilled so he got her coat and wrapped it over her shoulders. They held hands under the table. He poured her coffee.

I talked about them pretty much the entire breakfast. I pretended to talk on Kevin’s phone while secretly taking pictures of them. That’s how cute they were.

Eventually, they moved to the other side of the table because she was too cold by the window. So they shifted everything and sat facing the other direction. It may have also been so that their backs were to me; did they notice my stalking??

I told Kevin that’s how we’re going to be when we get old. And though he denies it, he will. Because he loves me. We’re going to be a cute old couple too.