On June 20, 2015, I had a special experience with a young woman that I felt was worth recording for posterity.
Since March, 2015, I've been having a pesky skin rash that just won't go away, my seeing my family doctor twice to no avail and I made an appointment to see a dermatologist on June 30th, but I realized that I would run out of ointment by then. On June 20th, I dropped by the Walmart pharmacy to get advice on what over-the-counter treatment I could get to tide me over until the 30th and a young woman, Kylie, came to the pharmacy window and I recognized her from my previous visit months earlier, a beautiful young woman in her mid-20s, about 5' 4", jet black hair tied up in the back, wearing a white pharmacy smock, beautiful olive complexion, with an ever-present smile, and we picked up on our fun-filled conversation from months earlier. I learned from Kylie that she was engaged and I told her that I typically tell such women who are "spoken for" that that takes care of the other 20 questions that I would have had for her, but I couldn't help but go ahead and tell her the obvious, "You are a beautiful young woman," causing Kylie to smile even bigger and tell me, "Thank you."
As we walked together towards the shelves with skin product, I asked Kylie if she went to college and Kylie abruptly stopped in her tracks, and then I quickly stopped, and Kylie replied, "I have a Ph.D."
I exclaimed, "You have a Ph.D. in pharmacy?!"
Kylie slightly nodded, "Yes."
I continued, "Should I genuflect?" causing Kylie to smile.
Our conversation went to my
talking about the coeds where I went to engineering school at the University of
Missouri--Rolla (in 1972-1974) and Kylie told me that although her degree only
required her to take one calculus course, she wound up taking three calculus courses
because she loved math.
I then asked Kylie if she
remembered from calculus the three dimensional "saddle graphs", using
my hand to go up and down, tracing the inside top surface of a saddle and Kylie
told me that she did.
We then went to the aisle with the skin product and Kylie pointed out one product on the top shelf and she warned me that this one really stings the skin and I assured her, "Oh, that's okay. I'm a Macho Man," causing Kylie to smile. As I was looking at the products on the shelf that Kylie was examining, I decided to change things up a bit and I told her, "Now don't forget that I'm sensitive to pain."
Kylie turned away from the shelf and looked at me and told me, a bit strongly, "I thought that you said that you're a Macho Man."
Kylie and I then looked at each
other, into each other's eyes for a few seconds as I wondered how I would
respond to her. I then placed my right hand across my chest with my fingers
spread far apart and I told Kylie, "Well, behind this rugged
exterior...... (very long pause before I finished in a very gentle and mournful
voice).......is a sensitive soul," and I kept my very passive facial
expression for a few seconds until I slowly smiled at Kylie. And I could tell
that Kylie, perhaps, marveled at (and was not expecting) my spontaneous
sensitivity.
****************************************
(Below is my original narrative before I made corrections to this true story on July 17, 2021.)
On June 20, 2015, I had a special experience with a young woman that I felt was worth recording for posterity.
Since March, 2015, I've been having a pesky skin rash that just won't go away, my seeing my family doctor twice to no avail and I made an appointment to see a dermatologist on June 30th, but I realized that I would run out of ointment by then. On June 20th, I dropped by the Walmart pharmacy to get advice on what over-the-counter treatment I could get to tide me over until the 30th and a young woman (who I shall call Kayla, as I cannot recall her actual name) came to the pharmacy window and I recognized her from my previous visit months earlier, a beautiful young woman in her mid 20s, about 5' 4", jet black hair tied up in the back, wearing a white pharmacy smock, beautiful olive complexion, with an ever-present smile, and we picked up on our fun-filled conversation from months earlier. I learned from Kayla that she was engaged and I told her that I typically tell such women who are "spoken for" that that takes care of the other 20 questions that I would have had for her, but I couldn't help but go ahead and tell her the obvious, "You are a beautiful young woman," causing Kayla to smile even bigger and tell me, "Thank you."
As we walked together towards the shelves with skin product, I asked Kayla if she went to college and we stopped and Kayla replied, "I have a Ph.D."
I exclaimed, "You have a Ph.D. in pharmacy?!"
Kayla slightly nodded, "Yes."
I continued, "Should I genuflect?" causing Kayla to smile.
Our conversation went to my talking about the coeds where I went to engineering school at the University of Missouri--Rolla (in 1972-1974) and Kayla told me that although her degree only required her to take one semester of calculus, she wound up taking three semesters of calculus because she loved math.
I exclaimed, "You took two semesters of calculus just for the fun of it?! I MUST genuflect now." And after my right knee came close to touching the Walmart floor, I came up laughing and Kayla laughed, telling me, "You're silly," causing me to laugh even harder.
I then asked Kayla if she remembered from calculus the three dimensional "saddle graphs", using my hand to go up and down, tracing the inside top surface of a saddle and Kayla told me that she did.
We then went to the aisle with the skin product and Kayla pointed out one product on the top shelf and she warned me that this one really stings the skin and I assured her, "Oh, that's okay. I'm a Macho Man," causing Kayla to smile. As I was looking at the products on the shelf that Kayla was examining, I decided to change things up a bit and I told her, "Now don't forget that I'm sensitive to pain."
Kayla turned away from the shelf and looked at me and told me, a bit strongly, "I thought that you said that you're a Macho Man."
Kayla and I then looked at each other, into each other's eyes for a few seconds as I wondered how I would respond to her. I then placed my right hand across my chest with my fingers spread far apart and I told Kayla, "Well, behind this rugged exterior...... (very long pause before I finished in a very gentle and mournful voice)..... I have a sensitive soul," and I kept my very passive facial expression for a few seconds until I slowly smiled at Kayla. And I could tell that Kayla, perhaps, marveled at (and was not expecting) my spontaneous sensitivity.
