morning walk

this morning wednesday,i would normally go to the gym with my friend, but since she went into st john's this morning, i decided to take the dogs for a walk aroung the pond instead. it's the first warm , sunny day we've had in ages. much nicer than a sweaty smelly gym.
i let the dogs off leash, as my knee is bad and going down the steep stairs is dangerous with two dogs pulling. these dogs are small but mighty. just as i reached the bottom step, i spotted a woman and her dog. i yelled at my dogs, one of them being a fighter. needless to say neither of them listened to me. i don't have an authoritative voice. the lady tried to command them to back off, they didn't listen to her either. i managed to grab the fighter and let her know the other one was a lover.
she indicated her dog was new and only 6 months old. i admired him and we exchanged dog bios. she asked if i would mind permitting her and "rascal" to walk with us, as she was trying to introduce him to other dogs. she introduced herself as "suzanne". i told her my full name. upon hearing it she shreiked and hit her head. then she told me her full name. it turns out, she is an old girlfriend of my exhusband. they were sweethearts when they were in high school , a hundred years ago. he never got over her and held her up as his standard of the perfect woman.
i told her that i had heard about her for over 40 years. well she turned out to be as lovely as he described. we walked around the pond , me telling her intimate details of my marriage, and of his life and death . suzanne filling me in on their teen years . it turns out she left home in her teens and moved to british columbia. she recently returned home to care for an aging parent. she has decided to remain here.
it's so funny, i knew so much about my husband's early years that it felt like she was someone i had shared a history. we both laughed thinking how much he would have enjoyed our meeting.
when the walk ended we exchanged phone numbers and promised we would do it again.