 
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 306
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Friday, July 04, 2008 - 7:44 pm: |    |
Of Galaxies and other Celestial Bodies
Note:
It is axiomatic that every man never forgets his first love, infatuation, crush, attraction, or maybe just the first meaningless kiss. Especially if they were pre-pubescent.
(I don’t know about women remembering their first boy friend. Anyone??)
This is a true story.
It is one of those Aphorisms? Platitudes? Old Saws? You know, like, everything that goes around, comes around!
In some of my early posts I regaled my youth with those grade school memories. They were all very accurate. No embellishments.
I made particular mention of my crush on the most attractive and elegant girl in the eighth grade. I stressed the point that it was a pre-pubescent experience. My hormones did not erupt until a year later. Yes, she was my first love.
I carried the torch for that girl for a couple of years and then along came Peggy and with the slightest whisper of a breath, Peggy extinguished the flame I had been carrying for,,,,what’s her name? 1944-45 was the year of eternal light. The year of Peggy.
1941-42 was the eighth grade era. I never seen ‘what’s her name’ again. Until,,,
Fast forward to 1973. We leave Detroit and start our adventure in the U. P.
In the spring of 1975 I get an opportunity to go back to Detroit for a temporary job, duration; about 4 months. Six days a week, 10 hours a day. Beaucoup bucks. I take it.
My son had an apartment near Dickerson and Warren. I boarded with him. My few hours of recreation are spent in Grosse Pointe Village or on the Hill. Casual shopping or just people watching.
There was a Baskins and Robbins Ice Cream Emporium on the northeast corner of Kercheval and St. Clair. I bought an ice cream cone. It was 10 a.m. Sunday morning. I was standing on the corner, licking the cone, waiting for the signal light to change. North and southbound St.Clair had the green light. A young kid, maybe 12 or so was riding his bike with a tennis racquet in his basket crossing Kercheval with the green light. He was followed by an older woman who also had a tennis racquet. I glanced at her, for an instant. The radar in my head was instantaneous. “My Goodness, I know that woman!’ Yes, that was good ole what’s her name!
Of course I knew her name. It was Julia. From 13 years old to 46, this child just matured for the better. I was in a momentary dilemma. I knew Grosse Pointe well enough to know that there was a public park just two blocks to the north that had tennis courts.
I thought, “Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. I drove down to the park and seen her walking toward the courts that were all full. I walked up to here and said, “Pardon me, but I believe I know you from a long, long time ago. (34 years long.) If you will give me about ten seconds of your time I think I can jar your memory. She smiled, quizzically. I rattled off four names. Her half smile burst into a genuine laughter. She did not recognize me until I told her my name. For the next ten minutes or so it was, do you remember the time, this or that, or when we did this or that?
Then she told me she had been divorced in 1970. They had four children. She had married an architect who worked for _ _ _. We talked a little more small talk and then I left.
Ever since that encounter, I have felt a little melancholy. A feeling of sadness for her.
I have always wished that all of my old and never forgotten friends, lived happily ever after. I am hoping that maybe she is, now. But it doesn’t always work that way. |
Ragtoplover59
Member
Username: Ragtoplover59
Post Number: 282
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Friday, July 04, 2008 - 8:52 pm: | |
First Kiss, yep, snuck up behind a girl named Teresa, first grade, backless top, and pow!! right on the back. I wasn't one of the boys that hated girls until I was older, I would see things I liked about certain lady's at a very young age.
Another one named Anna also! under a picnic table in her backyard, this one a mutual kiss, just a wonderful moment,,,until her mom snatched me out and sent me on my way lol again, around 5 or 6 of age, the visions of both girls have faded, but not the names and places.
And then we get to the one that started about 5th grade. One of my best friends sister. who shall remain nameless here.
at one point we had a 17 yr gap before seeing each other again. but it was bittersweet. the occasion was the death of her father 13 yrs ago. who by the way had retired and moved to Tennessee, not far from where I live, and then again last fall due to the death of her mother.
And then the death of one of her uncles (also in Tenn) last week brought another small reunion.
She is the one I can look back on with many happy memories, and have the fate of being able to touch base with from time to time, sure helps to keep the "I wonder what ever happened to" thoughts away!
Hope you and Peggy are enjoying a wonderful 4th |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 3359
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, July 04, 2008 - 9:09 pm: | |
No, it doesn't, TP. But my far away galaxy tale is quite similar to yours. I'll share it with you.
I guess I was a junior in high school when Beverly and her family moved in on Appoline. That was the block behind my house on Steel. She was a year younger than I was. Almost overnight, her front porch became "our" hangout....my two pals and me along with Bev.
Well, she was a knockout. Every Friday night, her Dad played a pickup softball game down in Lincoln Park, and we three guys were always invited along with Bev. The ball games were fun, but being in her company was even more fun.
About the time I graduated from Mackenzie, she got a job soda-jerking at Al Pisa Drugs at Meyers and Schoolcraft. She'd get off work at nine in the evening, and I'd walk over to walk her home. That went on all that summer of, oh, I'd guess it was 1954.
Anyway, somehow we both then got tied up in other matters, me going to WSU and her going to work for Ma Bell. After a spell I got knocked for a loop to receive a wedding invitation: hers, and "Don"s, one of my buddies who hung around her porch.
Damn! I didn't even know she liked the sonuvabitch, I thought. I was more than just a little shattered, and I kicked myself over and over.
Time passed. My wife came into my life in 1957; we married the next year, and life has been good. No regrets. I did learn along the way that Bev and Don had divorced, and that both re-married. I wondered off an on for years, especially when I turned the old family album to photos of me and her at my Mackenzie prom. Dang, I looked great in that white dinner jacket, and her formal was a knockout.
Fast forward to about two years ago. Fumbling around on a school reunion web site, I found her listed with an email address. After wrestling with the decision for two days, I decided to drop a short, pleasant email. To my delight, she responded just wonderfully. We exchanged emails for a couple of weeks, then both of us returned to our worlds of reality.
She was pleased to get the HS prom photos, delighted that I had kept them. In turn, she mentioned some newspaper clippings she had found and kept when I was named in my DPD career in the local press.
She remarried, is just fine, and living in Florida in retirement. The communication ended after those two weeks, but I suspect she was as pleased with it as was I. And I'm so glad life turned out well for her.
Anyway, if there's anything to this "life after death", next time around I'll play my cards a little different. |
Tponetom
Member
Username: Tponetom
Post Number: 308
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Monday, July 07, 2008 - 11:15 pm: | |
Ragtop,
Ray,
The greatest satisfaction I get from my stories is when they encourage one or more 'readers' who jump in and say, "Hey! I read you Tom. I have been there and done that, too."
I take it as a continuing catharsis that helps to obscure those early days of shyness, bashfulness and insecurity when my tongue got tied in a knot when trying to woo the lady fair. |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 1454
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 5:55 pm: | |
I just wanted to take this opportunity to say “Hello!” to Ray1936. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 3408
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - 6:15 pm: | |
Hiya, Bullet! Thx for the shout! |
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