Today I saw a customer whom I hadn't seen in eight months. She was a regular customer in line at the Columbine Post Office in Littleton. Unfortunately, fate dealt this young and beautiful woman with cancer and then later with diabetes coupled with macular degeneration and over time she became blind. I received permission to write her name on here because I asked her if I could. I will tell you who she is later. She moved to America to meet her future fiance on Valentine's Day. This is our quirky bond - at one time in my life, I was engaged on THIS VERY DAY four years ago - but things did not work out that way for me. Nor for her either, 18 years after the fact.

In 1989, after this person's fiance chickened-out and crept behind the bushes of life, she found out that she had cysts on both of her  ovaries which meant the removal of her tubes and ovaries. She knew at 23 years old. she would not be able to conceive children and she had begun menopause. She experienced her first hot flashes and she was totally uncomfortable.

A little over a year ago, she was diagnosed with diabetes and within the last year, macular degenerartion crept in.  Because her family and relatives live in Switzerland, they have never once visited her here in  the U.S. for both ordeals of cancer and diabetes.

I never knew ANY of these details when she came to visit me in the long P.O. line - not until today. It was obvious that she was blind and she was mailing parcels to her family in Switzerland. We would normally engage in the usual small-talk between window clerk and customer.

One day, I simply offered her a ride home - she wanted to go to the nearby grocery store - so I gave her a ride to both. No big deal to me, but she said that the paratransit service in Colorado charges $20 a ride, no matter the distance, including the Post Office. This woman values a ride more than a nice meal on the town.

Long enough,  blog shortened, I saw her today and she has met her soulmate and they are now married. He operates a therapeutic massage clinic in Denver. Denise, her real name, gave me 50 "free massage sessions" coupons in my line today. I passed those coupons to any available co-worker that I could find at 9:45 this morning.

This woman has found a loving man and they are married and live in Colorado. This woman's name is Denise Bielmann who was a star in our American-barred 1980 Olympic games. Denise does not share the same physical beauty if you Google her pic - but her heart is much larger.

I suppose Spauldo's last comment on my home page is true - the  best gifts are unexpected and a surprise.

Love is not something you feel. It's something you do. Love is also a canvas created by God and carefully painted  by our true feelings and imaginations.