Summer Nights

It was August 1971, the hottest month of the year in South Jersey. And this day the temperature was a record high in Wildwood, like an inferno attempting to melt human flesh. I was at the beach playing frisbee with my friend Jimmy. Before his last toss he told me to let it fly past me, and then retrieve it, where I would gaze upon a girl our age with at least double-D breasts. Jimmy always was a dog and today was no different. I did as he asked, and when I went to get it, the most gorgeous girl in the world was holding it. A younger girl named Diane, who was the daughter of my parent’s friends, introduced me to her cousin Cathy. I could barely speak as I looked into her eyes like deep pools of blue, at her lips pink and full just asking to be kissed. She was wearing a bikini and I could see her full sultry figure. As we sat down on her beach blanket, I stammered my hello. She laughed a little and I laughed back. Diane went to play in the ocean, leaving Cathy and I time to talk and get to know each other. We were both on summer vacation, she was staying at her uncle’s place and I was staying with a friend (no, not Jimmy). We had both just graduated from college and were looking to start jobs in the fall. We both had Bachelor of Arts degrees and soon learned there was not much in our fields of study to look forward to. We had both decided we wanted to stay at the shore and take our luck with employment. We spent a couple hours playing in the surf and diving into waves, so cooling after the fervid heat of the sand. I asked her to join me for a walk along the boardwalk that evening and she accepted.
I picked her up at 7pm and we drove to the boardwalk. We strolled along looking at the stores and gaming arcades. We ate funnel cakes and wiped the powdered sugar off each others’ faces. As I touched her lips I thought how nice it would be to have those lips touch mine. Before I knew it she did just that, giving me the most passionate kiss of my young life, as if she could read my mind. We held hands as I drove us home, discussing what we wanted to do in the coming days. When I dropped off, she kissed me good night and disappeared into the house.
The next two weeks a blur as we recreated our first meeting. The sand, the surf, the boardwalk, miniature golf and the late night walks on the beach. Finally, on a Friday night, we were again walking along the beach in bare feet, talking about our future. We would both be looking for jobs, and places to live. I suggested that sharing a two bedroom apartment would be cheaper than renting two separate apartments. She agreed and that’s when I knew she was the girl for me.
Her Uncle Wally owned a music bar and hotel. As autumn came Cathy got a job there cleaning the rooms, and I got hired as a busboy in the restaurant. The pay was fair but between the two of us, only enough to rent a one bedroom apartment, instead of two, but we made the situation work. She got the bedroom and I got the couch. Cathy worked her way up to managing the hotel staff, and I became a bartender.
As we began our new careers,I decided the time had come to make things more permanent. That night as we strolled along the beach listening to the waves and sensing the glow of the full moon, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. To my overwhelming joy she said yes. We were wed the next Saturday and honeymooned on the beach we loved so much. We eventually bought a three bedroom home and started a family.
It’s 2021 now, and we just celebrated our 50th anniversary, surrounded by our three children, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild. We look forward to another fifty years together, with more grandchildren and more great grandchildren.