I just finished talking to my thirty five year old daughter. During the conversation I asked her how she liked the last blog about Mountain View. She said, "It was nice, thank you, but get on with the high school boyfriends."
My husband, who I met in my sophomore year of college, was without a doubt my best boyfriend, and he is still my best friend today. But he thinks I was a little snotty back then. Hum! He tells the story about how he took me out on our first date to the theater, which took his hard earned money, and when we got there, I said, "I have already seen it." I tell you this to show that I may not have always been the perfect date. For several years after that, we dated each other only when we had no one better. Eventually we decided we liked each other.
I wish that I could pass on to my granddaughters what I know with hindsight, how nice the few boys I dated in high school really were. We laughed a lot. So I must have had a sense of humor then, but for sure they did. What gentlemen! On a scale of 1 to 10, I was a five/six. Contrary to commentors on this blog, I did become a Cheerleader. But I did not have this aura of sexuality. I wouldn't say that I was an ice princess, but. . . .you get the idea. My father was a formidable man, and he greeted each date, which got fewer and fewer, with his little speech about cars, etc. After the first one,he really did not need to do this, as my father's presence went before me.
The boys I dated were not on the football team, or the Jimmy Dean bad boy types, although one was on the baseball team. The boys I dated in high school were fun, they were mostly funny, and smart in one way or another. I don't want to mention the word "geek" here, but now that Geek has become fashionable, and also I have come to intimately know the GEEK SQUAD, at BEST BUY, I think I can say the word.
I dated Mr. Printed shirt only once . He was not a geek. But he wins the prize for being the ultimate gentleman. This date was problematic in that Mr. Printed Shirt was Japanese American. I was looking forward to the actual date, but first he had to meet my father. My father was at the Battle of Okinawa, where the ships on both sides of him sank. My father was still saying things like, "Dirty Japs." My father told M. Printed that I had to be home at midnight. We went to San Franciso to a night club that played jazz, and the music was just getting going at midnight. But home was an hour away, which meant we had to leave at eleven. Here is a guy who had spent a lot of money to buy me dinner, and leave at eleven. But at eleven, he looked at his watch and said it was time to go. He did not complain, make excuses, or make a joke. And no one else did either. He had that sort of presence.
I had a wonderful time. Probably the most adult date to that point. While quiet, he discussed topics of substance. My father was awake and he asked if I had a good time. I said to him, "You should be so lucky as to have me date someone like him all the time." And I went to bed.
So to my granddaughters I say, give a little thought to the guys hanging in the wings, with a good sense of humor, who are smart and nice. Don't be too quick to pass them over.