First Date

It's springtime in Boston. Love is in the air. The tulips in Copley Square are about to bloom. This flower below, in the avant garde, opens up to check out the scene. It looks around, figuring its strategy. There is strength in numbers. It realizes it is by itself - vulnerable, naked, exposed. And yet, it continues to open. This tulip is mighty and proud. And...it gave little Elliot the inspiration he needed to ask his sweetheart on a date.


He ponders his strategy with his dad and friends on a little walk by the river. "But how would I approach her?" "What would I say?" By the end of the walk we were all tired of hearing him pontificate.


He demanded that we go home so he could have some time alone. He positioned himself in front of the mirror and stared. "Hey baby" he rehearsed. "Is your diaper as wet as mine?"



And then, as quickly as the idea came to him, he figured the solution. He'll invite her to the gym. He was going to exercise anyway, so why not just ask her if she wanted to come along.



"Victory!" Little Ella showed up at the door and without much pause, they were hanging out in Playskool gym together.



He reached for her hand. She didn't pull away. It was working. She was warming up to him. It was the oldest trick in the book, but Ella, coy at first, placed her hand on his and left it there.



The first date was going swimingly. Ella couldn't hide her fondness for Elliot. So she needed her mom to ease her head towards his. Elliot didn't take that personally. "You take what you can get. And if this lovely lady needed a little help from her mom, well, I still pee on myself, so who am I to be picky."



It would seem that the love connection would be lasting. Elliot asked Ella to spend the summer with him and she said yes. They agreed to share a nanny three days a week. It was the beginning of something beautiful.