"As I walk this land with broken dreamsI have visions of many thingsLove's happiness is just an illusionFilled with sadness and confusion,What becomes of the broken heartedWho had love that's now departed?I know I've got to findSome kind of peace of mind"
(Editor's note: Since I am dealing with details that occurred over 40 years ago, pleae allow me some leaway in case I leave you out of this story, I never forgot about you....well, not completely.....and in case I confuse any of you with somebody else or mix up who I took to what dance...I really did care about you...and well, ..uh...well....you know what I mean)
Oh my, oh my, oh my...I guess this is hardest story to write probably because it was one of the most difficult times in high school yet, one of the most exhilerating times. Female and male hormones just going wild while at the same time trying to figure out who we were let alone get an education. But, I guess relationships are part of an education but they can be gut-wrenching and they cause us to cry and cause us to swear never to date a boy or girl again and worst of all cause us to race for the Clearasil.
I had my heart broken a couple of times and I broke a heart or two along the way. But that doesn't balance the scales. The pain, the tears may go away but the scars remain forever....O.K. maybe not forever, but they do last awhile at least until you meet the next guy or girl.
My dance card pretty much remained blank my freshman year, it wasn't as if I wasn't trying...but the biggest drawback was never having any wheels or your friends not having any wheels and your older friends who were driving didn't want you around cause now they finally had wheels....it was just too much of a mess. So, it was usualy just us guys hanging out together looking and dreaming about when we would get wheels and get a date. I think I might have done one of those Mom or Dad drive you type dates but I don't even want to count those.
There was a one place that I remember and I'll need a little help here because I can't quite remember where it was excactly....but it was my first time to actually mingle with the opposite sex in a non-champeroned atmosphere. I didn't have a date but, man...I knew that dating was going to be high on my list of important things to do in high school after going here....
Anyway, this place was a quonset hut type building over in the Cornell Heights area.... and everybody was doing "The Twist" and the girls were laughing and the guys were being cool and it was so neat......I just had to get me a date sooner or later.
By my sophomore year, things did seem to pick up a little. I was still only 15 and my birthday was in late August, so I had a whole year of bummin rides or hoping to latch on with a double-date. Most of us were still doing the all guy things so our dates usually met one of those "I'll see you there" dates. Usually they were at football games or the dances we had after the games or maybe it was one of those "see you at the Goody-Goody"...it was always see you there. Still I was making progress. There was one girl, a special girl, and one who I will remember for a life time, that I dated and spent endless hours at her house, I know it had to have been my sophomore year because I know I wasn't driving yet but I do remember we dated when I was driving the following year yet, I didn't have a good reputation for prolonged romances....I'm sooo confused. Let's move on to my junior year.
This is it....I get my learner's permit in August and by the time school starts...I'll be driving and DATING.....oops, flunked the driving exam. Couldn't park. Man, what a bummer. Double-dates for a little while longer.
That girl that I completely remembered in my sophomore year, well now we are dating, real dates, with wheels and going to ah yes...school dances, open houses at Forest Park, the Dixie drive-in, cruising Parkmoor, cruising Goody's, listening to the radio....life was good...at least until the break-up.....the god-awful break-up. I'm sure it was my fault or though I probably heard the familiar line...."It's not you...it's me". Or, maybe it was something I did or said...God, who knew back then. Feelings changed like the wind. A wrong comment, a wrong look at the wrong time, a right look at the wrong time, a right look at the right time....it didn't matter....it seemed like there was always something......but man I loved it...I loved girls, I loved relationships, I loved going places together with friends......I guess it really was the "Love Decade"
But there is one last kind of romance or love......unrequited love.... that love that is not openly reciprocated, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The person you love may or may not be aware of your deep affections."Your know, you seem like a nice guy or girl, I wish I had known you better in high school"......oh, life is so bittersweet. "Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love." Charlie Brown in Peanuts
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