My memories of the 60’s are what keep the grey matter functioning, almost as if everything happened just a few days ago..

Growing up in Michigan and in particular my Junior high and High school years were perfect. With just the right amount of love pangs, a few heart breaks along the way make it a box full of polaroid memories that will stay with me until I take the big scooter to the sky. Maybe I will get a chance to see that ‘movie trailer’ just one more time. This time I will savor the moment knowing just how special those times were, at least they were very special for me.

The times my one first ‘true love’, Kay Jewell and I spent together were skin tingling fantastic. Although it seems like she was breaking up with me every other weekend it sure was like heaven when we were together. The best part of breaking up is the making up and we sure did that a lot.

Nothing can ever replace that first love and it is definitely wedged in there pretty deep. Of course it was just the trial period before you found the really special someone that could actually tolerate you in the long run. Kay is perfect for all those special memories and Norene fits right in there at the top too, but my Sandy is the Number One for now and forever. What Sandy and I have gone through together, Kay would have never survived.

Kay’s first prom, the Junior prom if I remember correctly. We doubled with RuthAnn Eakle and Terry Stein. She looked absolutely fantastic. Now that I look at that jacket I could have done better back then, I wonder why I picked that one? Remember those narrow ties, and get a load of that hair style right from the early 60’s. RuthAnn’s house was right on the corner of Dixie Highway and Sashabaw. Right by a grocery store or something, I think there was an ice cream parlor in front of her house I had to borrow the parents car to go to this prom, a white 1959 Buick Special. I think we went to Ted’s afterwards then up to Mosquito Hill.

My senior prom!  And as usual Kay was gorgeous. I didn't realize how young I looked even back then. She looked great in yellow. This was probably one of the most memorable nights I have ever had. Everything was perfect, well nearly perfect. Just before the dance her mother and father had a little talk with me, which set the pace for the evening. (I was hoping it would never end) They were concerned that I was to old for Kay and secondly had no idea where I was going in the world after high school and they were concerned that I would ask Kay to marry me. They also discovered one of those ‘special’ little love letters and were very concerned over the contents. Kay was close to her mother so I have a feeling she talked to her mother about other things.

The night of my Senior Prom dance was nearly perfect. I got to use my brothers 1960 Black with Red trim Plymouth, a convertible at that sleek, slick and shiny. We went to the Fox and Hounds for dinner, Drove around for awhile since I knew how the evening was going to end, then up to Mosquito Hill to look at the stars. Even with the windows and top down the mirror got all foggy!!

The little talk that Kay’s parents had with me just before the dance was a little much for an 18 year old kid to deal with but I was given an ultimatum and I do think Kay knew we had to break up since she wasn’t as heart broken as I was. Her parents advised me that by the next day I should be on my way out of Michigan or else. So it was a rough night for me and although it seemed like we agreed on it, we had to break up that night and by morning I was hitchhiking to Florida. Kays parents were probably right with their request to me. I was definitely way over heels in love with Kay, and can now see where I was surely smothering her. (During my high school days, in particular from about 11th grade on to graduation, I was on my own. My parents had some pretty heavy duty marital problems and when my step father ran off with another woman, my mother ran after him, leaving my brother and I to find a way to pay the rent and live on our own. I can see the threat I would be in any parents eyes, especially Kays parents. But it was that little love letter they found that cooked my goose.)

Kay and I had been going together for a long time, and everything seemed perfect to me but as I later learned I was a bit on the demanding side or controlling at the least very possessive. As I mentioned, Kay broke up with me several times while we were going together but for what ever reason after a weekend apart, we were back together. Below is the driveway in which we would park for hours.
So my prom was nearly perfect, except that was the night Kay and I broke up and I started on my way out into the world in a daze.

Later... I was extremely confused even after I got to Florida. Kay would call now and again, and we would talk like boy friend and girl friend. Cooing and purring. Like nothing had ever changed but I was now living in Florida, 1400 miles away.

Even stranger yet, I was invited by Mr. and Mrs. Jewell to spend their vacation time in Florida with them at the Sands Motel in Lake Wales. I was in heaven assuming that maybe, just maybe we could get back together. We were together for about a week and it was one big Mosquito Hill event and my hopes were growing. The room we shared is right in the middle of this post card. I slept with her dad and Kay and her mother shared the other bed. The pool was right out side of our window and Kay and I spent a few memorable  nights in the pool. We spent an ‘only in your dreams’ week together and I thought we were going to get back together. Didn’t happen.
Months later I hitchhiked back to Michigan only to find she had a new boyfriend and I was not in the picture any more. Then I met Norene.

Norene was good, perfect in fact. I also had high hopes of that working out but a little help from her friends and that went down the tubes, , she broke up with me too... Then I met Sandy.

From this day forward my life and my wife and all she means to me has been a more perfect dream come true then I could ever have imagined.