Leah and I got married in 2005, but I’ve known her for a long time. Leah’s brother Dan was my best friend in high school, and I can remember having my mother drive me over to his house when I was 15. I probably caught a glimpse of her then, when she would have been 11.

Over the years I caught more glimpses. In the summer when I drove over to Dan’s, if Leah was sunbathing in her two-piece swimsuit, she would jump up and run for the house when I pulled up. I always thought she was cute. And she had great legs.

Here she is with that great new Beatles album, Abbey Road. She’s probably telling her cousin about it.

Leah and the Beatles

Abbey Road was released in 1969, when I was 19 and Leah was 15. Isn’t she cute? Darn right she is!

Although I always liked Leah, we never connected. It turned out that when I went to graduate school at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, she was working there. This is what she drove.

Sharp car! Nice girl!

That’s a Fiat 124 roadster. A lot of people think old Fiats were unreliable, but I disagree. I got a 1971 Fiat 124 Sport Coupe just before I graduated from Georgia State University in 1973 and drove it for a long time with no problems. It had nearly 100,000 miles on it when I sold it, including a cross-country trip to California and back.

Leah did have some problems with hers, and her mother suggested that she call me and see if I could help. I wonder, was there an ulterior motive there? I regret that I couldn’t really fix the problem.

Leah offered to make dinner for me, but that just never seemed to happen.

Not long after, the poor Fiat met its doom in a close encounter with a telephone pole.

And I went on at Tech, and then later in Huntsville. Sometime in 1998 or 1999, Leah and I got in touch with each other again. And the rest is history

But boy would I like to have that car.