Wednesday, April 9, 2008
When I was a young lad of 26, fresh out of the Navy I had enrolled into a local University. I was looking forward to a long stint at USC with the aid of my GI Bill. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe that I would meet someone of the opposite sex that would affect me for the rest of my life.
For some back ground I had received an early out from the US Navy in order to enroll at USC for the Fall semester. I had forwarded my transcripts from my Technical College and had been accepted.
My parents were taking the year off and traveling to England where my Dad was going to be a Fellow at Oxford. I was left to take care of their lake house and be a basic caretaker for their home in Saint Andrews near Irmo.
I was very excited about going back to school but little did I know that the lady I was about to meet would in some way set the standard for all the women I met in the future. I was early for my first class and sitting on a bench near the class when this wonderful looking lady come up and asked, â??Are you waiting for the history class in this room?â? I responded that I was and she sat down beside me. We talked about history and how we like some parts of it and hated others. As we got ready for the class I could tell there just might be something between us but at the time I paid it little attention. After all I was fresh out of the Navy and school had been my focus for some time.
As the semester progressed on we both seemed to look forward to seeing each other in class. The big day came one day when I asked her out. I was so excited when she said â??YESâ?!!!!!!!
The romance started off slow but it wasnâ??t long before I was spending time with her at her apartment. At Halloween we carved a pumpkin and then Thanksgiving and Christmas I spent with her family in Aiken, sleeping in their spare room in the basement. It appeared to me that we were headed for a long relationship. She was a model of giving and forgiveness not to say anything about the humor that lay behind those beautiful eyes. We never shared any harsh words and how I loved the time we spent together, meeting her friends Betsy & Marie, her parents, and her only sister â??Deeâ?. Sharing pictures of her family when she was growing up and how she looked like â??Little Debbie.â? During our spring break we went to the mountains in Gatlinburg, TN and camped out in the Smoky Mountains national forest. We ate at Howard Johnsonâ??s and visited all the local tourist traps. When spring came we were spending time at the lake house. Sailing around the lake in a little sunfish sailboat I had purchased in the Navy, eating cheese and drinking wine while we sailed.
My BIGGEST blunder and one that remains with me to this very day was: Valentines Day!. She had purchased many gifts for me and I hadnâ??t even bought her a card!!!!. Iâ??ll never forget her face and my disappointment in myself for this blunder. And, it was the THING that probably added to the demise of our relationship, which ended by the first summer session at USC.
She was going one way and me another way. But thatâ??s not to say our friendship ever died. Six years later as my first marriage was going south I met her again. How it seemed like the Harry Chapin song, â??Taxi.â? We sat around discussing this and that, but nothing in particular. How warm and comforting she made me feel just to sit by her after being apart for 6 years. Then she began to ask me for advice, you see she was about to â??GET MARRIEDâ? for the first time.
I never saw her again until her marriage reception. How beautiful she was in her wedding gown and how happy I was for her.
We had shared such great times and my love for her had been wrapped up like a caterpillar in a cocoon, safe from harm and memory a long time ago. That was until I heard that she had passed way. Then like a monarch butterfly emerging from its chrysalis the wonderful thoughts of her, the love, the joy, and the beauty we had shared came rushing back into my heart and mind.
Iâ??ll never forget he
