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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

A Floating On Air Love Story

Lighthouses, I discovered up close while touring historical beacons on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, are both lovely and romantic.

Marion Nauman, who read my column headlined “Old Lighthouses Offer New Thrills,” has a personal tale combining those same PEI lighthouses with a love story worthy of a Hollywood movie.

Roll the opening credits and title “Love Is In The Air” as a two-seat, single-engine airplane takes off from the Santa Paula Airport.

Flashback to a “meet cute” . . .

“In 1999, a mutual friend introduced two long-divorced people,” shares Marion, a longtime local teacher, now retired. “He was shy and when he dropped by a few times, he used the excuse of ‘Checking on the place’ for that friend who’d left a couple of things to be stored.

“My kids and I were in the process of renovating the old house I’d just gotten. I’d been painting the living room ceiling, so was in my grubbiest clothes and covered in paint and sweat. I was atop a tall ladder when my power painter died.

“In a most unladylike reaction, I let fly a string of curses. The twins scurried over, saying sotto voce, ‘Mom! Mom! Shhhhh!’ Their eyes drew mine to the door. Sure enough, the gentleman was all spruced up, coming to check on me, not the house contents. A braver soul there never was: He asked me on our first date.

“A few days later, he rang the doorbell and I stepped out, looking far better than he’d previously seen me. The weather had turned cool, so I ducked back inside for a moment to grab a sweater. Moments later, I stepped back out and he was gone!

“I soon located him in my garage, arms akimbo and smiling. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

“ ‘Oh, just admiring your tools,’ he replied. As it turned out, a thief had made off with all of his, which he sorely missed.

“During a delightful first date, we learned that he was a retired general engineer; I was still teaching junior high and we enjoyed many things in common. He immediately invited me out again.

“As he escorted me from my East Ventura home the second time, he asked, ‘How would you feel about building an airplane in your garage?’ Now, from an engineer, that is a proposal of marriage.

“We finished renovating the house. I got a ride in his friend’s plane which he’d helped build, and we started building our own. I took flight lessons, and then retired.

“We were married in that mutual friend’s garden, and headed home. With ‘Just Married’ decorating the car, he inclined his head toward the garage, asking, ‘Do you mind?’ Within five minutes we were both in jeans and T-shirts, pounding rivets!

“We flew that plane all over the place. He pretty much left the destination choices to me. So at one point I proposed that we cross the northern U.S. with Prince Edward Island as our farthest point.

“ ‘You plan it; we’ll fly it,’ he responded.

“Like you, Woody, I was taken by the sight of PEI’s lighthouses, each a unique gem.

“Bob and I did a lot of flying,” Marion, now 68, continues, noting he was 15 years her senior. “But he lost his health and passed on, about the time I came down with a rare disease which makes me allergic to the sun and weak, so our Yellow Bird, an RV-9A was parted out to friends. But oh, do I have memories to cherish! Especially all those lighthouses!”

Fade to black, roll the closing credits.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com