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Meet Bill, my husband

When US State Secretary Hillary Clinton met Bill, it was bit like Harry met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle all rolled into one. For her it was ‘love at first sight’ but he was really shy and needed a little coaxing.

Sharing her ‘love story’ with Zayed University female students during an interview for a TV talk show in Abu Dhabi recently, Hillary offered some delightful anecdotes of the early days when the celebrity couple met at their law college. It was all a little soulful with them staring at each other but neither making an approach which, of course, most of us men can identify with.

She said she finally took the initiative and introduced herself to the young and good-looking Clinton. “I was walking from one class to another going through a boundary where they have these vending machines for chocolates and candies, and I heard this voice in southern accent saying ‘Not only that, we also grow the largest watermelons in the world’. I asked my friend who that was and said he was Bill Clinton from Arkansas State.”

Hillary said she has been seeing Bill in the campus but never been introduced to him. “I saw him watching me all the time. Yes! He was incredibly handsome. And this is how it started, and we finally talked, we both ended up teaching at Law School in Arkansas and got married,” she explained.

Again, it is usually the girl who breaks the ice because the guy is so scared of being laughed off or rebuffed his ego can’t handle it. Nothing has changed since then.

“I finally said to him, we can’t just keep glancing at each other, you have something to say, let’s just say it. Always remember, there is never enough opportunity to express love.”

Dressed in a stunning black suit set off with white pearls, she was in an extremely friendly mood as she took on a barrage of questions from the students.

Though the audience included a large number of male students, government officials and local media, she preferred to take more questions from female students and was keen to know more about women life in the UAE and the region as a whole.

Few people know this but Bill Clinton is quite the musician. “He is an excellent saxophone player and loves music a lot. He had little time to practise, especially during his presidency. When had time, he was always training in a small room at home.”

Clinton also said she was happy for their daughter Chelsea. “I am extremely happy with her life. She found a perfect match,” Clinton said of Chelsea’s husband Marc Mezvinsky, an investment banker.

—nissar@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE