Anne Smalley
Of course we all remember when we were first in love with
that special someone. When we were on
cloud nine, no matter how old you were, you still felt like you were only 16
years old. For Karen and I, we were smitten
from very early on.
When Karen and I met, she told me about all the different
jobs and volunteer work she was doing. After
all she had the time on her hands to do them. One of which was working on the
weekend as a waitress for this woman Anne Smalley, owner of Anne Smalley
Caterers. After just a few weeks of us
dating, Karen needed to report for work for a catering job of Anne’s at our
local parish hall one Saturday afternoon to help set up and execute a big Saturday
evening wedding reception.
I remember meeting
her boss from her weekend catering job she had.
The wonderfully sweet Anne Smalley, Ann, was a delightful, elderly, entrepreneur
who was a real ball of fire, vivacious and so outgoing. A “People Person” as they were called back
then. Everyone loved Anne and everyone
wanted to work for her.
I dropped her off and went home to work on my new home. Late that evening I got a call from Karen
that the party was over and I could come pick her up. When I arrived, in the ballroom, there she
was, a little elder woman walking around on a mission to get the place clean
and orderly. This lady was on a mission,
obviously, this was Anne. I walked up to
her with a huge smile and joyfully said; “Hi Anne!” She looked at me for a second and with her
eyes and mouth wide open she said; “Bobby!”
“Oh my God, Karen was right, You’re gorgeous!” Oh, did I laugh!
So Anne and I, being of the same strong personalities,
immediately embraced! She grabbed my arm and said; “Don’t go anywhere; I need
to tell you a story, when you dropped off your new beauty here tonight…” Anne went on to tell me; “Karen walked into
the ballroom and not only did she have a smile from ear to ear but she stopped
me in my tracks as I was throwing out orders to everyone and her as she started
walking in the door. “I looked up at her and I went silent” I said; “Karen, you’re glowing!” “Then I let out a gasp and said; “Karen! You met someone!” Karen was glowing and couldn’t wipe the smile
off her face. “She replied; “I sure did Anne!”
Anne went on to tell me it was the happiest she had ever
seen Karen. Ah, young love! Just another awesome memory for me.