Love and One Night in 1965

Young love is a risky business at best. And is filled with an innocense that only exists in those early years. There is still that sense that all is possible and the sun and moon and the farthest star are reachable. When being naive is a blessing. The world is filled with new hope and undying devotion and only today matters. And life's prioroties are Friday night football games, who is going steady with whom, and prom dresses and homecoming.

It was in these times my story begins. My name is Daniel. I was seventeen years old and attended Thomas Jefferson High and it was the summer of my junior/senior year. During that summer a family moved in across the street who happen to have a daughter close to my age. She was a year younger than I and had reddish brown hair to the shoulder and very petite in stature. She was covered with freckles and wearing glasses and was easy to smile. She always wore slacks and oversized sweaters and talked constantly. She had the ability to inhale and exhale without interfering with her ability to communicate. But that was ok as it complimented and countered my extreme shyness and almost unwillingness to talk at all.

One particular evening she was sitting on her front porch and I was making a family ice cream run to the Dairy Queen. I slowed and stopped in front of her house and asked if she would care to ride along. She said yes and that was our fiirst date.

Almost one year later, I found myself sitting in and old ford by the local lake with her and a little black box. It was almost dark outside and the car radio was playing. Sitting there behind the steering wheel I was rehearsing the words I wanted to say and anticipating her reaction. For in that little black box was an engagement ring. That symbol of tentative commitment. I wondered, would she throw her arms around me and gently kiss me? Would we talk for hours about our lives together and make plans? Would we embrace each other like never before? Would she cry and I kiss away the tears?

Finally the moment had come ! It was time ! No more rehearsals, and no more thoughts of uncontrollable affection. This is it ! I slowly retrieved the small black box from my pocket and slowly placed it on her thigh taking my hand away. She looked over at me and she suddenly stopped talkin. Perhaps for the first time since we had met. The silence was so new it was almost frightning. She cautiously asked me " what is that Daniel "? I replied with a simple " open it "! I saw her open the small black box and I caught only a glimpse of the ring when suddenly I felt pain all thru my upper body. It took me a second to realize I was being viciously attacked by a mad woman that was both laughing and crying at the same time. I was being beat on and pounded unmercifully ! I couldnt understand why she was the one crying when i was the one under attack and suffering damage? Where was that tender kiss? Where was that quiet embrace? Instead I found myself ,arms in front of me defending myself ! I was cowering back against the car door wondering when the intensity would end.... Surely at some point she would surely grow tired and exhausted?

But the important thing that happened that night inside that ole Ford was she had said yes. And it changed our lives.

Looking back, Id trade that awful pounding and tears of surprise over a simple kiss every time..... I survived her that fateful night. And she has suvived me all these years.......