Cat People – Once we Owned a Dog

Meow

I’ve heard it said that some people are cat people and some are dog people. The other day I found this article online as I was looking into the background info before writing my story here.

Romance & Royalty in the Fourth Grade

Ours were shorter and more rectangular

Before I write any stories about my girlfriend, (ultimately my wife), I am working my way through childhood romances.  There is one that I almost accidentally skipped so let me try to document what I remember about my fourth grade flame Kathy Dudley, and anything else worthy of mention that year.

The Power of Music – Diane was not a Green-Eyed Lady

Diane’s Eyes were Brown

The other day I was listening to my car radio and heard Carole King’s song, “It’s Too Late”.  After it was over I kept wondering – where is Sugarloaf’s Green Eyed Lady?  All night I was mentally singing to myself It’s too Late which then got followed up in my mind by Green Eyed Lady.  So, I got to thinking about it and I realized that anytime I hear Carole’s song, I just automatically expect to hear the Sugarloaf song immediately afterwards.  Why was that?

I gave it some serious thought and came to the conclusion that it’s connected to a vivid childhood memory of love lost.  My summer girlfriend of 1971 when I was 13 was Diane Mathews.  In hindsight, Diane was my first ‘long-term relationship’.  Diane was a year older than I and attended St. Peters Catholic school, whereas I attended public schools.  She was cool and she was a good athlete.  She became the mold for my perfect woman, the one who I eventually fell in love with and married.

My First Steady (or Four Minutes in 12 Year-Old Slow Dance Heaven)

All of us have lots and lots of regrets in life, lots.  Some are very significant and major life altering events.  Others are tiny moments we wished we had acted differently and we still think about many years after the occurrence.  All of our actions and inaction, however, serve to help form who we are today.

Do You Remember Your Very First Kiss? — I Sure Do!

Although most of my informative years were spent living in a house on Prytania Avenue, five years were spent in a rented house on Goodman Avenue in the Fillmore Elementary school district, (1029 Goodman to be precise).  It was in that house that I was to find my first best friend, (Timmy Apwisch), my first life threatening experience, (getting hit by a school bus), and my very first kiss on the lips from someone who was not my mother or a relative with a little too much facial hair.

Love Strikes in the Sixth Grade

I was sitting here tonight just chilling and writing down another cute childhood story when while I was writing I recalled a memory that I had totally forgotten about and not thought about since it occurred way back in sixth grade. I decided to bounce over here and write this one as it is cute.  It is a confession of a secret I have been harboring for about 43 years.