Our first date was a fun date and one that we would repeat many times over. I took Mary Lou to the weekly school dance at the Student Union. Each Saturday night, there was a dance with a live rock and roll group. There were many garage bands during the 1960’s and ’70’s. There would be several bands in the area and plenty of dances for them to play for. I think I picked her up at her dorm, and we walked across the campus to the Student Union. I can’t remember if we did anything afterward. We might have taken a car ride, being as I had a car. My car was like my mobile living room. Neither of us were allowed in each other’s dorm rooms, and there weren’t many private places to be together.
After our first date, we just started hanging out together. We ate all our meals together at the dorm’s cafeteria. She would wait for me to finish my swim practice. I would arrive with several of my swim team friends and we would all sit together. I ate a lot of food during this time, and she hung in there with me while I would go back for seconds and sometimes, thirds. On Sundays, breakfast was a continental breakfast/ brunch, and then it would shut down until Monday’s breakfast. So each Sunday evening, we would go out for dinner together. Our favorite place was the Little Sweden. It was a Swedish smorgasbord, but they also had a menu. We would order the hamburger deluxe. It came with two meat paddies with lots of stuff on top like onions and mushrooms. This all came on a home-made bun that was delicious. It also came with a full plate of sliced fried potatoes. The best part was that it didn’t cost much.
We would sometimes go to a place in nearby Talent. It was called the Talent Cafe. It served family style. They would have an offering for that night, such as roast beef, and you would make reservations. You would be seated at a large table with several other people. The food would come on platters that you passed around. It was home-style cooking, served with love by two older sisters. I loved that place.
Ashland isn’t an entertainment capitol, or it wasn’t in the late 1960’s. We were limited in what we could do for a “date.” There was the local movie theater which we went to a few times. Besides eating out, our favorite pastime was taking a walk after dinner. We would take long walks and talk about our lives. Now that the family is grown and we are just the two of us, we have discovered that we still love to go for long walks. Some things are always there.
Brian
Brian and I met on Friday night and he’d asked me to go to the dance with him, the next night. I was very excited and nervous to go to the dance. I hadn’t been on many dates before and wasn’t sure how to act or what to say. Brian had been very easy to talk to the night before. We had so many things and thoughts and ideas in common. Friday night arrived and Brian did, too. He came to my dorm, the girl on the intercom system called me down, I signed out and off we walked to the Student Union and the dance.
We had a great time and enjoyed dancing together. It was very easy to communicate with Brian, I’d never really had that before with a guy. After the dance we went for a ride in his car. I had to check in by11:00pm on the weekends and 10:00 on weekdays. We got back in time for the 11:00 curfew. Before we got out of the car we kissed. It was my first time to kiss a guy and I wasn’t sure what to do. Brian told me that I needed to kiss harder. I was happy to have the instruction and glad we were comfortable enough with each other for him to tell me that.
We agreed to meet the next morning for Sunday breakfast, donuts, at the cafeteria, my favorite. Since that day we’ve had almost every dinner together when we’ve been in the same area from that day to this. We didn’t meet for breakfast or lunch very often because we had different schedules but we always met for dinner.
I remember waiting forever for swim practice to be over and for Brian to soak his feet in a special solution. This involved another 45 minutes of waiting because he had to soak his feet for 30 minutes then dry them under a heat lamp, put on ointment, and his shoes and soaks. He had a bad case of athletic’s foot for a long time. I’ve never been know for my patience. It amazes me, even today, that I’d wait that long. I guess it was true love!!
Mary Lou
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