Pam was living in Aspen Colorado, being a ski bum by day and working as a waitress by night. It was her early twenties, and life was an adventure. She met a nice guy on the chairlift. He was a part-time construction worker and a part-time ski instructor. He asked her out for that night,… Continue reading Asinine Aspenite
Mr. Huggable
His name on Plenty of Fish was Mr. Huggable. Her name was Charming Classic. She didn’t know yet that first dates are better as a coffee meet and greet, not a full-blown lunch. They agreed to meet at El Charro, a nice Mexican restaurant in Lafayette. It was set for 1:00 in the restaurant bar… Continue reading Mr. Huggable
Escape
Scott answered a personal ad in the Contra Costa Times for a woman looking for a date. Remember newspapers? They were ink-on-paper affairs that folded in half, but not shiny like a magazine. A magazine was a booklet of ads, stories, and photographs with a theme that was published weekly or monthly. Back to the… Continue reading Escape
Black Lights and Beatles
You know that one song that whenever you hear it, it takes you back to a time and place when you were doing something so memorable, while it was playing in the background, that it is burned into your brain for eternity? We’d seen the guys at the Iowa State Fair the summer before, where… Continue reading Black Lights and Beatles
Prince Not So Charming
He was dressed as a prince in his puffy sleeved blouse and velvet jacket. I was dressed as a 1930’s nurse from Samuel Merritt Nursing School in Oakland. Admittedly it was a weird Halloween costume, but the woman at the estate sale had practically given it to me after I bought $200 worth of antiques… Continue reading Prince Not So Charming
Lemon Meringue Pie
Sarah thought she’d give Match.com one more try. After a round of on-line flirting with a good-looking, age-appropriate man, John asked her to dinner. Sarah said yes. They went to the Hayward restaurant and had a pleasant meal with lemon meringue pie for dessert. Things are going so well. This guy might be the one.… Continue reading Lemon Meringue Pie
Waitresses Make the Best Tippers
After moving to Omaha and teaching for a couple of years across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I grew tired of driving a car that smelled like a mildewed basement. My poor Chevy Monza had suffered through a Nebraska flood back at the farmhouse, and the car stank. I couldn’t afford a new… Continue reading Waitresses Make the Best Tippers
His Baby, She Wrote Him a Letter
Holly moved from San Francisco to the East Bay and missed her old classmates. The smart kids and the popular kids had already established their cliques. She was an outsider. Holly had no close friends to share her excitement and concerns at Bishop O’Dowd High School, even though she was kind of cute, smart, and… Continue reading His Baby, She Wrote Him a Letter
With This Pin . . .
Sharon was a Sigma Kappa at Cal Berkeley, in her junior year. As she stood outside her sorority house, chatting with the house mom, a guy that she knew from Kappa Sigma crossed the street. “Hey Sharon, do you want to go to pinning party with me tonight?” “Okay,” Sharon said, even though she didn’t… Continue reading With This Pin . . .
Chick and Velvet
She was an architect from Huntsville, Alabama. He was a car salesman from Scottsboro, just forty-one miles away. He was kind of cute — medium height with sandy brown hair. His name was Chick, short for Charles. They’d met at a wedding because the groom was late (another story). After a fun night of dancing… Continue reading Chick and Velvet
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 