“A story that is shared is never forgotten”

It was the summer of 1968 and a 17 year old boy rode his bike around his neighborhood, having lived there for most of his life, he knew the place like the back of his hand- his favorite corner store had the best ice cream sandwiches, his best friends lived scattered across the many houses in his street…he knew everyone and everyone knew him…especially the girls. This time however, as he rode passed one of his friends back yard, he noticed a girl he hadn’t seen before….and she stopped him in his tracks.

She was new to the neighborhood having just moved a few weeks before summer started. She was 16 and had caramel skin with jet black hair all the way to her waist. Her hair was so shiny it glowed in the sunlight and the boy was hypnotized for a few minutes as he watched her play with her new friend. He knew he had to meet her. Approaching the girls, he introduced himself and welcomed the new girl to the neighborhood, smiling and cracking jokes (he was known for his charm with the girls) he offered the girls some chocolate he had specifically bought for this moment…and as she accepted, she knew this guy could be trouble, but she could never really say no to chocolate!

The two became fast friends! He found out that she already had a boyfriend in her old town and was disappointed but respectful of the fact that she was “taken”. Still, there was a long summer ahead and fun to be had so the two continued chatting and joking and riding their bikes around the neighborhood together, along with the other kids from their street. Summer 1968 was a wonderful time!

As school time started, all the neighborhood kids went their separate ways. The girl was off to her catholic all-girl academy (she came from a well-off family) and the boy to the local public school (him, not so much). School was tough, even in high school there was high demand and expectation from one’s education-homework took hours after school to complete so they didn’t see each other much during the week…but on the weekends, everything was back to normal, it was like they had seen each other every day! The neighborhood friends all got together for fun adventures of ice cream and bike riding. And to the dismay of the boy, the girl still had a boyfriend.

As the 1969 school year came to an end – fun events like Prom were starting to take place. The girl’s academy was holding their annual Grand Ball in December and she was excited to go gown shopping with her girlfriends! She would be able to bring her boyfriend and dance the night away…one of her favorite things in the world (besides chocolate) was dancing! Which is why when her boyfriend told her he could not go (his school work was keeping him too busy and to be honest he didn’t like to dance too much anyways) she was so utterly heartbroken! She couldn’t miss her last Prom?!…She had a dress and a brand new pair of shoes ready to go…all she needed was a date..maybe a friend could go…and she already had someone in mind.

She was ahead of her time, I believe.( I loved this part of the story the best) She had no issues of “proper ladylike” behavior, put on her big girl pants on and decided to ask the boy to accompany her to the Ball. She had felt the chemistry for a long time between them, although neither of them ever let anything on out of respect towards her unavailable status, it was there and they both knew it…and tonight everything would change because as they danced and laughed the night away…it was clear that this feeling was no longer undeniable.

To be continued….