I did my best but guess that turned out to be a fool’s errand. I waited to get married because I didn’t want to get divorced as it seems everyone else had done. Even my mother, altho she did remarry my father. All my sibs were sad for a while afterwards and it seemed to me I could do all that and not be married.
I was 21, just, when I lost my virginity. Her name was Rose McDaniels and she worked at the Hilton restaurant too. I don’t know for sure but think she was about 5 years older. I didn’t even know what was on her mind until I figured it was time for me to leave and go back to AZ. She invited me for dinner and since I hadn’t had a meal cooked for me in a while (Greg was ok but…) I figured why not. I think we did eventually eat but I found out quickly why she had invited me over. Ever heard of blue balls? Well, up until then, me neither. I was to find out that my first time from then on was how it was gonna be for me.
In ‘91 (or ‘92, I forget) I started writing an old, newly divorced, friend at the urging of another old friend. Never mind I lived in CA and she had moved back to her native IN. It frankly never crossed my mind that she was “girlfriend” material.
After writing for about a year, I decided it was probably time to “meet the folks” who I had heard so much about. I especially wanted to meet her daughters who I found out were as smart (well smarter) than what I was told. Elizabeth had made an impression with me when she thought I was mixed up in the shooting at the tower (well, I was on the 20th floor of the Market Street tower for about 9 years) where I used to work. It was a bit before my time but that didn’t matter. I was “safe” in Palo Alto now. Her concern seemed genuine and that’s what touched me.
I decided to visit on the 4th of July weekend. I guess I should have asked but it sure felt like an oven when I first stepped off that plane. Maybe I should have come in late September, now that I look back. I think I got acclimated pretty quickly, or maybe it was the company that took my mind off the heat.
Most of her family I met the next day. (Any stragglers were there by evening.) There was even a couple from OH (Bill & Sally). We went out to a place her folks had on Raccoon Lake. Quite beautiful and they did have a pontoon boat, which we did ride around the lake and fish off of (and I found out you could do other things off of too if you had enough beer to drink).
After more than a week and a half, and we were finally alone, we did make love. It was the first time I ever experienced sex, at least the first time with someone, without having the dreaded blue balls. I don’t know if it was fate, destiny, the gods telling me this but something was whispering to me to not let this one get away. I knew her 20 years ago, she had a terrific family (altho I didn’t drink beer), her kids were awesome, I could adjust to the humidity and I could probably find a job here (even tho I had no prospects at the moment). She said she knew a headhunter.
A week later I proposed.
I spent about 3 weeks there before I had to go back to CA and prepare for our next steps.
