Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The Queen's Nipple

Judith by Valentin de Boulogne, 1628 CE
Image courtesy of Museum Syndicate



During our marriage, Tall Husband and I have discovered that we have previously, on numerous occasions, crossed paths . Each discovery of a missed encounter gives us a strange feeling; a feeling that we, tragically, may never have met. So when he recently asked, out of the blue, if I remembered the Queen's nipple, I should not have been so deeply stunned.

"Do you remember when we were at the Renaissance Festival and the King and Queen of the festival were leading the procession and how the Queen's nipple was poking out, above the plunging neckline of her costume?" he asked.

"I quite remember the Queen's nipple and how the crowd cheered at the sight, but we have never been to the Renaissance Festival together."

An expression of confusion and disbelief came over his face. "You're right, we have never gone there together. But if you remember the nipple, we were there at the same time." Then, "Just a minute! Which nipple was it?"

"It was her left nipple, " I answered.

"That's correct. And where were you standing," he asked.

"Near the gate, to her left. And you?"

"Near the gate and to her right," he answered.

With that, we both realized we had been standing a mere glance away from one another those many years ago; each unaware of the other; each with someone else.


Life is so strange and tenuous. And sometimes magical.

1 comment:

  1. Oh my God! I love this post!!! I always want to hear how people met or almost didn't. Sometimes I think it would be so cool to write a bunch of real life stories like yours and put them all in a book, or maybe a new blog ??!

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