Posted on 06/03/2019 9:14:06 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
“The foundation of my marriage is built on a lie.”
That’s a line I’ve used when new friends would ask me how I met my wife, Maura. Over our eight years together, I’ve gone back to the well so often with that joke that Maura doesn’t even feign offense anymore. She knows it’s meant for a dry laugh. But it is 100 percent accurate.
In a borderline-desperate attempt to ask my future wife on a date, I lied. I did not, despite my request, actually need her help to buy one very, very red pair of Asics DS Trainers.
In 2011, I was a newly minted editor who had just moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, an hour north of Philadelphia, for my first real job. I was alone in a new town, but I loathed the idea of heading to bars solo, and my new coworkers’ post-work hangouts set off my innate awkwardness, which compounded as I internally berated myself for not fully fitting in. These outings rarely led to future invites.
While I could have turned into Allentown’s youngest recluse, I discovered the local run shop and its weekly meet-up. There’s something about running—being outside, doing the same thing as the people next to me in a group—that quells my social anxiety and lets me open up.
The Tuesday night outings in 2011 were like the shop, the Emmaus Run Inn: small but mighty. At most, 10 people gathered for an easy run through the quirky Allentown suburb of Emmaus—it opted for a town triangle instead of a square. Not knowing the tangled grid of streets, I would hang back and get to know the regulars, especially the Run Inn salesperson named Maura.
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s working.
Very nice story of a real romance. Two thumbs up.
Think I see his problem. Sounds like a place not even worth driving through................
Emmaus Pennsylvania, home of Mack Trucks and Rodale Press, publisher of Organic Gardening and Prevention msgazines.
And Conversational Threads, a terrific local yarn shop!
Emmaus is actually a nice place. In fact some parts of Allentown are not too bad either. The awful parts of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton are not good.
And “Runners’ World,” the source of this article.
Very nice story. A happy marriage to them.
Most of the Lehigh Valley is nice though it is getting over grown like everywhere else.
"Well, we're waiting here in Allentown for the Pennsylvania we never found, for the promises our teachers gave if we'd be good, if we'd behave . . ."
(Billy Joel)
“It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s working.”
I also met my wife of 30 years on a lie. We met at a bar on a Friday night. I told her I was a Rabbi. She was wearing the Star of David and I thought it would be a good opening line.
That reminds me of something Steven Wright said:
One day I got on the usual bus, and when I stepped in, I saw the most gorgeous blond Chinese girl... I sat beside her. I said, “Hi,” and she said, “Hi,” and then I said, “Nice day, isn’t it?,” and she said, “I saw my analyst today and he says I have a problem.” So I asked, “What’s the problem?” She replied, “I can’t tell you. I don’t even know you...” I said, “Well sometimes it’s good to tell your problems to a perfect stranger on a bus.” So she said, “Well, my analyst said I’m a nymphomaniac and I only like Jewish cowboys... by the way, my name is Denise.” I said, “Hello, Denise. My name is Bucky Goldstein...”
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